Hero of the Everyman
by The hotdog man
Summary: What does it take to be a hero? What must one give up in order to defend others? What does one gain? What if you don't have the same advantages as everyone else? Jaune will have to find out whether he wants to or not. Jaune/Weiss.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I only own the story. If i owned RWBY, things would be different around here. Let this disclaimer stand for the rest of the story, because i'm sure as hell gonna forget to put it up for every single chapter.

Well, this came about during the scene where Jaune admitted to cheating. I started asking myself who was it that Jaune nudged out, and then i figured it might as well just be someone else from his village, maybe even someone he knew. Then the whole thing just felt wrong to me and i tried to twist it into something nobler.

And this happened. Pairing is Jaune/Weiss cause they're interesting and i ship the crap out of them. I don't reckon chapters will be nearly this long in the future, but there you have it.

Edit: Added line breaks where scenes change. Forgot to mention the references. There's a Grandia 2 reference, a Deus Ex reference, and even one Preacher reference. Find them all and you can have a walk on cameo.

* * *

The young swordsman stumbled to the furthest end of the Dustplane. It was hot and crowded, and all he wanted right now was some peace and quiet. Or else, the excellent lunch his villagers had given him would all go to waste. He shouldered past small clusters of excited hunters and huntresses; no doubt friends from the same schools, or close comrades from rival institutes. His fevered eyes spied two seats near a window that were still vacant. An open window. His vision swam. He wiped several beads of sweat from his brow as he collapsed into the second padded seat, the one furthest from the window. He buckled himself in. Leaning over, he slammed the blind shut, and heaved his rucksack onto the first seat.

With a shuddering breath, the blonde youth attempted to slow his heart rate, and steady his body, which was still wobbling from the initial takeoff. He reached into his pocket and produced an amber pill bottle. Slade had said this would help. He could make out the label in the pale inverted lighting that ran throughout the Dustplane.

VERTIGO-BE-GONE

FOR WHEN YOU ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY MUST TRAVEL BY ANY MEANS OTHER THAN YOUR OWN TWO FEET.

He popped the bottle open, shook out two pills, and gulped them down dry. He felt them slide down his throat into his churning stomach. For one horrifying moment, he wondered if Slade hadn't just given him sugar pills as a good luck prank. It'd be the best time for one anyhow; they wouldn't be seeing each other for about a year. He pushed the thought away, closed his eyes, and sunk his head back into the headrest. The drone of the engines lulled him to sleep.

* * *

Jaune pulled back the curtain and peeked out into the entire population of his little village. The people were dressed in colorful clothes. Boys and girls carried little streamers and sparklers that Crazy Pete had been more than happy to supply. He could hear the faint sounds of several bands playing at the same time, each trying to out play the other in good sport.

Jaune turned from the window and looked at his friend as he strapped on his graphite colored armor. And why not? It wasn't every day that the local celebrity was christened as a defender of the village.

Slade was the hope and pride of the village. His family had been helping keep the little farming town of Carbo safe for generations. It was his tenth birthday, the age where all young able bodied boys and girls were given the option to fight the Grimm that sought to destroy their fair little hamlet.

Slade finished tightening the straps on the two scabbards that carried his twin cutlasses. Hanging over the fireplace, paintings of his ancestors slowly transitioned into pictures as they were chronicled throughout time.

"What's on your mind, Slade?" Jaune sat heavily on one of the cushioned chairs that Slade's familial home had to offer.

Slade sighed and ran a hand through his unruly silver hair. "I dunno if I'm ready for this, Jaune." He chuckled and looked up at the pictures of his ancestors. "Then again, I suppose I don't really have a choice. All my life they've been grooming me to be the next big thing. Now I've just gotta deliver, is all."

Jaune's dark blue eyes flashed. "Hey, you're going to be just fine. You come from a whole line of warriors. Plus, I saw you train. This stuff comes naturally to you."

Slade chuckled and cast a slanted smirk his way. "Thanks, pal. I needed that. No use psyching myself out this early in the game, right?"

They emerged after Jaune stuffed as many medicinal herbs and gauze as he could into his little hands. He would give them to one of the wellwishers to deliver on his behalf. Slade's graphite black armor gleamed in the sunlight.

The village watched him go with fanfare and promises of a hearty celebration in his honor; the modest farming village would spare no expence for their up and coming hero. Jaune had slunk off into the throng of well-wishers, cheering his best friend on.

"Bring me back a Beowolf head!" At this Slade paused and found his younger friend in the crowd.

"Jaune? What are you doing over there? Get in here!" The silver haired hunter marched over and yanked the younger boy into the main procession. Jaune's face glowed with pride and admiration. Slade cuffed his brightly glowing friend behind the neck. "Did you really think I'd leave you in the sidelines for my big day?" His short cropped hair glittered in the bright sunlight. "Never."

There was a small podium erected at the town limits. The mayor, a small, plump man who needed a stool to peer over the tiny podium teetered slightly, as a gust of wind threatened to take him down. He adjusted some cue cards in his stubby hands, and cleared his throat.

The procession of villagers had stopped. Slade slung an arm around Jaune, and focused his sharp gray eyes at the mayor.

"Slade comes from a long line of very good and noble warriors. Warriors, that have dedicated themselves to defending this little village, for many of them, until their dying days." Jaune glanced up at his friend. His steel gray eyes were hard, his jaw, set. "Today we enter the most recent of this noble line into the annals of our fair town." The mayor's thick brown brows came together in confusion. He shuffled around some cue cards and cleared his throat. "Ah, er, but first some history. You see, it was our lad's great great great, er yes, great grandfather Vaan who bravely slew the Ursa that was promptly made into the rug that adorns city hall to this day. You see, back then…."

The audience had begun to tune out the good mayor by the time he began recounting the deeds of Slade's twice great grandmother.

"For, it was only through the power of true love that they were ever able to make it back alive. And that leads me into the tale of—"

"Oi, Hank! We've not got all day, and the lad needs all the daylight he can get." Rogan the baker boomed over the diminutive mayor's aural biography.

Surprised, his cue cards had gone flying into the crowd. The mayor sputtered indignantly, his parted and gelled brown hair twinkling in the midday sun.

"W-well! Of course, then. Off you go, son."

The crowd cheered. Jaune, who had since fought down his embarrassed flush, found himself being crushed into a one armed hug by his first friend.

"This is it, Jaunny." He smiled into the forests just past the peaceful planes. "When I come back I'll finally be able to defend the village with the other grown up's."

"You're gonna be great! I mean, you can't lose with those swords of yours." The blades strapped to Slade's back were the envy of the village.

Slade ruffled Jaune's hair. "Hey, now, it isn't about the sword, but how you wield it. It's what's in here that counts the most." He jabbed a gloved hand to his temple. Before Slade jogged off, Jaune pressed the medicine he'd picked up into his hands and bid him a cheery farewell.

After a few paces, Slade turned back and drew his swords. They were long, curved single edged cutlasses. Slade closed his eyes and concentrated. His hands glowed pale silver, like pure moonlight. The light crept along the length of the blades. The ghostly white glow asserted its majesty even in the middle of a bright summer's day. While infused with his aura, the blades were lighter than air, fast as lightning, and so sharp that they could split a hair in half.

The silver haired youth raised one sword in salute. "For Carbo!"

Jaune's voice squeaked along with the villagers' brightest cheer.

And with the strength of the village at his back, the young hunter dashed off through the plains and into the dense forests. Jaune watched until the tails of Slade's navy blue scarf disappeared into the lush tall grass. He turned his gaze upward into the great beaming sky, and imagined the day that he would get to go on his own, far more modest, rite of passage.

He brought himself out of his musings as the villagers began to make their way back into the town proper. There was a feast to prepare after all, and the cakes wouldn't bake themselves. Jaune scampered off into the bakery with Rogan and his friend Kia, who hopped along excitedly.

Slade's favorite dish was apple pie, and Jaune being the good friend that he was, knew that he had to make at least ten of them to sate his friend's appetite after today's hunt. He dashed between kneading dough with his tiny hands and tending to three ovens, as well as managing the little catgirl at his command. He sent her off to get more apples for one pie and dough for another. Her tail swished excitedly as she skipped about.

He worked hard into the afternoon, fueled by the talk of passersby who sung Slade's praises.

"The boy is a miracle of Dust itself. I tell you he'll be mayor someday."

Jaune smirked as he rolled out a new pie crust. Just mayor, that's it?

"He'll become a legendary hero and wipe the Grimm off the face of Vytal!"

And I'm gonna help. A mad gleam formed in Jaune's vivid blue eye as he gazed into the fires of the stone oven, baking a cheesecake to golden perfection.

The sun dipped into dusk, and dusk sank into night. The village was aglow with lamps and fireworks to light the way for their fledgling hero. Some of the older men patrolled the perimeter of the village with torches to help the young boy find his way back home. It was usually no cause for alarm if an initiate didn't come back that very day, but some of the older men were getting antsy and needed something to keep their minds busy.

Jaune had washed the dough and filling from his work cloths, showered, and brushed his hair. He wore a simple gray tunic and pants. They were about the only cloths he had. Some of the wives around town had commented as such, and Jaune would only laugh and raise his hands in surrender.

"Hey, they're comfortable and they fit. What more do I need?"

Jaune allowed the enthusiasm of the village wash over him. The smell of his fresh baked goods along with grilled meats tickled his nose and roused his stomach. His eyes shimmered with the amount of colored lamps that hung from clotheslines and Dust wires. He'd lost count at thirty seven. There had to be hundreds. No, thousands! The night sky was ablaze with thousands of fireworks of every color that Crazy Pete had spent all year making.

He walked leisurely though the balmy night air. He tossed away a stick that he'd relieved of its freshly cooked meat. The dirt streets gave a satisfying crunch under his leather boots. Little girls in colorful dresses, and little boys with plastic swords ran about giggling and laughing without a care in the world. Jaune paused at the town well, the center of his little home.

He cast his gaze at fathers and mothers guiding their children from one Kill-The-Grimm game to the next. Men and women young and old nurtured their inner child, as they competed in good spirits for some stuffed bauble or another. Others, still, would put on plays of legendary heroes that everyone already knew by heart, but kept coming back to hear again and again.

A content smile blossomed across his face. Yes, this is why he wanted to help out as well. He wanted to keep those children smiling and their parents alive and well enough to continue seeing those children smiling.

Jaune sat on the well, kicking his feet back and forth. The sounds of happy families echoed through his head. Minutes passed. His smile slowly fell. A slow pain ate through his heart. He looked down at his empty, shaking hands, he found that his vision had blurred. He grit his teeth and willed the moisture to recede into his eyes.

Stop it! Not now….

Something soft and furry snaked around his waist and squeezed him gently. A silken purr slid into his ear.

"Meow."

His head shot up. Kia sat with her feet and hands clasped on the cobblestone edge of the well. Her head was cocked to the side, and she had a small frown on her face. Jaune viciously blinked away his tears.

"Er, h-hi, Kia." He sorely hoped she didn't notice his lack of composure.

Her luminescent teal eyes bore into him. "Your eyes are red. Are you alright?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. I was just staring at Pete's display a bit too long, that's all. Must have got some ash in my eyes"

That should do it.

Her ears twitched and she scooted closer. Her short honey blonde hair blazed under the lamplight. Her tail's grip around his waist tightened significantly. He absently stroked it, enjoying the feel of the warm velvety appendage. She started purring again.

Slade insisted that she was more cat than girl. Once, he had joked that he would flag down one of the traveling gypsy wagons and sell her off as a performing cat. Jaune had always known that Kia was quick on two feet, but she was doubly fast on all fours. She'd scratched Slade up something fierce that day. He'd also tried to get Jaune to give her catnip for her birthday, but he'd conveniently lost it before he could give it to her.

"What are you doing here all by yourself? Did you eat anything yet?" Her gentle voice was filled with friendly concern.

Jaune shrugged. "Yeah. Just taking in the sights and all." He gestured to the games and the dancers who were getting ready for the next tune.

Kia hopped off the well, her tail was still firmly wrapped about his waist. She wore a plain cornflower blue dress that ended just past her knees. She looked around for a bit, looking for something to do with her friend.

Her ears perked up. "Come on." She started dragging him with her tail toward the large open area where a contra dance was underway. "You can be my partner."

Jaune loved their dances. It was a good time for the whole village, a time for everyone to come together and mingle and spend some positive energy.

Jaune and Kia merged themselves into a spare pair to complete the quartet in the line and prepared for the caller to call the moves. He missed the comforting presence of her tail, as it slipped from his waist.

The rest of the night was a blur of music, lights, and merriment. Jaune had completely forgotten his momentary collapse into melancholy. He simply concentrated on the moves that were being called, timing his movements to the charming music.

It was late into the night. The celebration was still in full swing, and Jaune and Kia had taken a break from the dance. She'd fallen asleep on the bench with her head on his lap, and he absently stroked her hair. He kept an eye out for her mother. That was when the perimeter guards came rushing into town with Carbo's shattered hope bundled in their arms.

* * *

Jaune woke slowly. The first thing he felt was his stomach, which had stopped churning so violently. A ragged sigh slipped through his mouth. He could hear the distant prattling of a news reporter covering some sort of protest. The shrill white noise that had been the prospective students of Beacon Academy had died down to a low rumble.

The overhead speakers came to life. "Now approaching Beacon Academy." An artificially sweet voice floated through the air. "Touchdown in five minutes. Please return to your seats until the Dustplane has come to a complete halt on the landing pad. Thank you for choosing Beacon."

Jaune's eyes snapped open.

His rucksack was still where he'd left it, slumped in the seat next to the window, which was still blissfully shut. During his nap, he had also slouched down in his seat. He readjusted himself so he was sitting back in the proper position outlined in the sticker on the seat in front of him. He retightened his seatbelt, and put his hands on the armrests.

His stomach had sensed that he was awake, and resumed its protest. He took calming breaths to encourage it to endure just a little longer. The lack of rumbling meant that they were both on the same page. For now. He idly thanked the medicine he had taken. Sugar pill or not, it was doing its job. He looked around at the other students that had taken their seats. None of them seemed terribly distinct.

Jaune felt the Dustplane dip forward. His eyes lost focus. Metallic groans emitting from the belly of the plane signaled the hydraulic landing gears had been engaged. Not long now. The sound of the rushing wind increased to a violent wail. They were nearing the ground. That was good. Ground was good. Solid, sweet, ground.

Then, a violent lurch. Touchdown.

Oh, Dust!

His stomach lost its grip.

A thin snake of bile rose onto the back of his tongue. It burned.

Jaune screwed his eyes shut and swallowed hard, willing the vile substance back into his stomach.

We're on the ground. We're on the ground. We're on the ground.

His head hurt.

His lungs expanded and contracted in quick succession. His nails dug into the plastic armrests.

After an agonizingly long two minutes, the Dustplane finally came to a halt. The pressure in his head deflated, his stomach became as placid as a frozen lake, and stillness took over his entire body. He'd survived the flight.

The young swordsman saw other students unbuckle themselves and move toward the opening doors. He chose to stay behind and wait for the herd to pass. He saw a girl in a red dress shamble along with a blonde haired girl. After some minutes the plane became empty enough for him to move about comfortably. He hoisted his rucksack over his shoulder and rose from his seat. His legs felt wobbly as he shuffled his way to the exit.

He emerged from the flying metal coffin and shielded his eyes. It was midday, and the sun was strong. White puffy clouds wound their way through the baby blue expanse of the sky. Jaune's eyes fell to a large spire atop an overlarge mansion. He squinted. Something was glowing inside. He imagined that during the night, it would be something akin to a brilliant white spotlight. Beacon Academy. The campus itself was a mixture of contemporary and baroque aesthetics; regale white columns, a fountain here and there, ornate curls and flares, lots of greenery. A cobblestone path led the faceless students to the large central building.

The blonde swordsman sighed. He took slow deliberate steps, like a man who was buying time before his execution. His sapphire eyes took in the various tools the students had brought with them. There was a firesword, a pair of revolvers, throwing knives that cracked with electricity, and even a rapier that seemed to have some sort of cylinder attached to it. He couldn't examine it closer as the wearer had turned away from his line of sight.

He felt his heart drop at every new discovery. This wasn't the sort of place for someone like him. He glanced down at his own sword and shield. Trusty and true, but they didn't have the bells and whistles that these weapons did.

This has to be some kind of mistake.

He saw the girl in red and the blonde again. As he passed, he caught some of their conversation.

"Go make some friends, Ruby."

"Why would I need friends when I have you?"

Kia and Slade's smiling faces became smaller and smaller as the taxi took him to the Dustport. He bit his lip hard. He slouched sullenly past the two girls.

His feet carried him to a statue near the center of the school grounds. He raised his head to read the plaque.

ELIAS ARC: HERO OF THE GREAT WAR

The mayor had mentioned this name once. Judging by the picture in his history book, this guy was supposed to be one of his ancestors. He'd said that Elias had likely used the sword he now owned. He'd been hailed as an important leader during the first Great War, and had been rumored to have killed hundreds of Grimm all on his own.

Jaune wasn't terribly impressed. If his family was supposed to be so strong, then where were they? The story went that he had been left in the outskirts of Carbo village by a nomadic gypsy band with nothing but the thin clothes on his back and a sword at his feet.

He shook his head. As far as he was concerned, his sword was just a simple weapon with no other great meaning behind it. He didn't care if the greatest hero of all time had used it. There was certainly nothing of that legacy left now. He gazed at the broad shouldered and finely chiseled frame of his ancestor. It was made of solid gray granite. His stance was confident, with one leg atop a stone, and a hand on his hip. The sword in question was hanging faithfully at his side. He had a smartly trimmed beard, and close cropped hair. Jaune imagined Elias to have the same fair hair and piercing blue eyes as he had. It was a nice statue, but Jaune wasn't in any hurry to get his own any time soon.

Before long he'd found himself inside the overlarge mansion, and found that it was the central building for the campus. Made sense. He was ushered into a large ballroom where a stage had been set up in the far end. The room was done up in stately gray tones with glowing green lines to help accentuate the grays. Jaune applauded the interior decorator.

Prospective students milled about, murmuring excitedly about what the next step might be. Jaune elected to hang around the back of the crowd.

Just as he was about to lapse back into memories of his home, something orange and pink bounced excitedly in front of him.

"Ren, Ren, look it's someone new!" The blur stopped moving long enough for Jaune to identify it as a girl. "Hi! Hi, there. Hello! I'm Nora, and that's Ren." She pointed at a boy standing off to the side in a green eastern styled outfit with cream colored pants. "Ren come here, meet this new person! Oh, you have a sword. I like your sword. Shiny-shiny!"

The girl seemed to continually fidget as she spoke; gesturing wildly with her hands and bouncing about like an excited little bunny. A small smile crept on Jaune's face. She reminded him of Crazy Pete. It was a thin salve on his aching heart.

"Hi there, I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. It's nice to meet you." He gently took her hand, and she shook it vigorously. He winced at her grip, it was like someone had put his hand in a vice and done their best to flatten it.

"Ren! Ren! Come here, visit our new friend Jaune!"

The boy in green glided steadily over to his hyperactive friend.

"Hello, there. Lie Ren. Good to meet you." He offered Jaune a welcoming nod. Ren's voice was glacial; completely unfazed by his friend's hyperactive antics. Jaune decided that he liked this Ren character.

"Jaune Arc. And, likewise."

They shook hands at a far more even pace than Nora. Their grip was equal, firm enough to be sincere, but soft enough so as not to smother.

Ren's fuchsia eyes examined Jaune's sword. "That's a fine sword."

"Well, thank—"

"Oh, oh oh, does it have any special powers? Like, does it have a gun attached to it? Oh, or maybe it shoots lasers? Does it shoot lasers? Does it go zap zap, or pew pew? Does it set people on fire? I bet it sets people on fire, Ren. That'd be fun!"

"Nora." Ren gently rapped his orange haired friend on the head. "Calm down."

Nora immediately deflated and pouted sweetly at Ren. "Aw, but Ren…."

Jaune didn't want the girl to feel bad, so he drew his sword. It was a respectably sized longsword, single handed, and sharp. Simply designed, it didn't have any ornamental baubles or insignias. The hilt was brass, with blue leather for the grip, and the blade was razor sharp steel. The only unique markings on the weapon were the two golden crescents that arced across his shield.

"Actually, it doesn't really do any of those things. It's just a regular sword." He took his sheath, and gave it a good flick. The sheath unfolded and snapped into position as a heater shield. "Shield's pretty normal too."

Nora bobbed her head forward and backward in front of his shield, transfixed by her own image in the mirror finish. Jaune smiled as her cerulean eyes glittered with innocent mirth. He offered his shield to her, which she giddily snapped up. She carried it off a ways and began to angle the mirror this way and that, creating oblong reflections of herself and others.

Jaune felt something lift from his shoulders.

Ren smiled a bit at her antics. "Sorry about her, she gets carried away sometimes."

Jaune smiled sheepishly. "Oh, not at all. My neighbor was just like her. I hope you don't mind if I indulge her every now and again."

Ren's eyes followed Nora closely. "Not many people can really handle Nora, so it's always just been the two of us." Ren looked to him gave him a wry smile. "It'll be good to have someone else who can stand her for more than a few minutes."

Jaune's heart went out to his new orange haired friend. He didn't like when people felt lonely. He resolved to make some time for her when he could.

After some minutes the commotion in the hall was starting to die down. Nora bounced over to them, clutching Jaune's shield to her chest. Everyone's attention was drawn to the stage, on which a tall man with tousled gray hair and thin round spectacles prepared to address the school.

"That's Ozpin, the headmaster of the school." Ren whispered in his ear.

Jaune nodded, fixing his gaze on the older man.

"I'll… keep this brief." He pushed his darkened frames up the bridge of his narrow nose. "You have come here today in search of knowledge; to hone your craft, and acquire now skills. And when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." A tingle slowly swelled in the pit of Jaune's stomach. "But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose." Jaune caught his hands shaking, he willed them to stop. "You assume knowledge will grant you this, but I assure you that knowledge will only carry you so far."

Ozpin turned and left the stage. A woman with pale blonde hair, wireframe glasses, and a ragged purple cape took the microphone.

"You will convene in the ballroom for tonight. Your initiation begins tomorrow. Be rested and be ready. You are dismissed."

Jaune let the professors' words sink into him as he picked a spot next to a window. He tossed down his rucksack that held nearly all of his possessions. With his sleeping arrangements made, he elected to split the remaining time he had between quietly talking to Ren and playing games with Nora. As the day drew into evening, he thought he saw snatches of someone dressed in white. They seemed to disappear into one crowd or another before he could investigate further.

* * *

Jaune lay awake that night. Horrible thoughts rattled about in his head, showing him in complete detail every way he could possibly fail the exam and get himself killed all in one go. A shower of soft silver moonlight pooled around his body. His dark blue eyes stared into the twinkling moon for guidance, but it remained silent.

He wore a light blue full-body pajama suit. Kia's mother had insisted on having them tailored for him as a going away present. Jaune appreciated their tight fit. He felt like he was getting thousands of little massages every time he moved.

He groaned and turned to his right. The vacant plastic eyes of his powder blue bunny slippers greeted him. Slade's contribution to his sleepwear.

His imagination continued to buzz loudly. He finally heaved himself up, and slipped on his fuzzy slippers. If he wasn't going to get any rest, he might as well get a drink. He gingerly stepped over, Ren, Nora, and other sleeping hunters. Here and there he could see flashlights and lanterns where some students were scratching away in journals.

Jaune sat heavily in one of the vinyl coated stools. The minibar had long since closed down for the night, but there were still a few silver jugs of ice water for the students' convenience. He pulled over a jug and a plastic cup. He poured a liberal amount, and sipped at the water. He felt the cool liquid slip to the back of his tongue, and slide down his throat.

Each successive sip dulled his restless mind. The water pooled in his silent stomach. The slow even mouthfuls caused his mind to drift to the night of Slade's return. He didn't remember much. All he could register was that the celebration had been brought to a sudden halt. The older folk had begun to run about shouting rapidly at one another. In the end, all he was told was that Slade had been hurt, and he'd needed help right away. Jaune stayed out of everyone's way for the rest of the night.

It had been three or four in the morning when the adults emerged from Slade's ancestral home. He snuck in. A thick metallic scent hung in the air. He remembered seeing his friend's swords leaning dutifully against the wall next to his bed. Jaune could hear ragged, wet, breaths coming from Slade's bed. He put a hand on the bandaged form of his friend. He felt something horribly jagged. He drew his hand back, and found it was covered in coppery blood.

Jaune refilled his water.

The events afterwards were unclear. He knew he'd cried for some time. He extended his blood covered hand over his friend's body and something broke within him. He felt something wonderful rush through him. He was acting on instinct. All he knew was that he wanted his friend healed no matter the cost. He wanted him to smile again, to run around and play jokes on him and Kia again. His hand erupted into a brilliant sunlit gold. He channeled the wonderful warmth through his hand and into his friend. He willed the wetness away, he willed the ragged breaths away, he willed the hard jagged thing protruding from where it shouldn't away.

The next time he woke up, Slade was spooning water into his dry and hollow body. His gray eyes were awash with newly falling tears.

The water in Jaune's hand began to shake. He downed the whole glass and shakily refilled it. All at once, his calming therapy wasn't working anymore. Every insecurity and doubt about coming to this place crashed against his shaky defenses. This was ridiculous. Suicide, even.

But I'm not alone anymore, I've got Nora and Ren.

After they figure out what I'm about, they'll distance themselves. Even Nora.

All of Slade's training, it wasn't for nothing you know.

It won't be enough. These are the big leagues for serious players, not fakers.

I can at least try!

You're going to die.

His eyes grew hot and his vision blurred. He bowed his head into the blissful darkness that the bar provided. His shoulders shook violently at first, but soon steadied out into an even rhythm.

His inner turmoil prevented him from hearing the light footsteps that approached him from behind.

"How dare they? Can you believe them? Causing such a ruckus at this hour. Honestly, people are trying to sleep." The footsteps stopped. "They have the biggest test of their lives coming up. Imbiciles"

The girl's cool gaze observed the hunched figure at the bar. She recognized the crumbled posture, the tightly clutched cup, and the effort to stay hidden and motionless in the shadows. She silently walked up to the darkened counter a respectable distance away.

"Hey, you've got the water over there, right?" Her tone was noticeably calmer. "Could I have some, please?"

"Ah, er, y-yes." Jaune stiffly poured another cup and slid it over to his thirsty companion. Their fingertips touched as the cup changed hands. Jaune's hand shot back to its original place, the girl's drew the cup at a more graceful pace.

After a few moments, the girl tossed the cup away and seemed to rise from her perch.

"Thanks. Listen, you should get some sleep too. Tomorrow's initiation, and you want to be at your best for whatever they throw at us." She took a step and turned back. Her cool eyes regarded the hunched young man. "You know, I'm sure you'll do fine. You worked hard to get here. You shouldn't doubt yourself now." She turned and left.

Time stretched on as the girl's smooth voice filtered through Jaune's fevered mind. It seemed to undo the knots of tension and anxiety that had been plaguing him all the night. He finally filled his lungs deep with refreshing cool air.

* * *

"525… 525…. Where is it?"

An upperclassman had given him his locker assignment and he was getting tired of lugging his rucksack all over the place. What they didn't tell him was that the lockers were a thrice damned maze. He turned a corner to check another hall of lockers when the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.

He'd never seen someone like her before in his life. Light seemed to pool around her, casting her in a perpetual phosphorescent glow. Her jacket and dress, done up in soft blue, near white, tones cut a frosty landscape across her lithe dancer's figure. She was chatting amicably with a tall red haired girl.

What? What is that? Who is that? Is this real? Jaune's mouth hung open as his mind struggled to process the girl's hair, as white as clouds, that cascaded softly down her slender back. Her pale skin was clear and without blemish, like freshly fallen snow.

Is she… human?

Well, why don't you go find out? Slade's arresting tenor had taken over the voice of his conscience.

Are you crazy!? I can't just waltz over and ask her how her day's going. I mean, look at her she's—she's got to be some sort of ang—

Don't you finish that sentence; you'll psych yourself out.

B-but—

No! She's just a girl. A very, very pretty girl. Now get out there!

Jaune took a sharp breath and squared his shoulders. Alright, here goes….

With every step Jaune took, his heart beat faster and faster. By the time he'd reached the two girls, he could feel it thundering against his ribcage.

"Er, hi." The two girls turned to him. He thought he'd had a minor heart attack.

The red haired girl had lush green eyes, like the plains outside of home after a good spring shower.

"Oh, hello there. I'm Pyrrha, and this here is Weiss." The redhead, Pyrrha, gestured to her smaller friend. Her voice was breathy and smooth, like an afternoon breeze, perfectly pleasant.

"Hi." She greeted him simply. When his eyes found hers for the first time they seemed like two clear lenses of ice with only the slightest kiss of winter blue.

Open your mouth, Jaune. Make words.

"Oh, er. Yeah. I-I'm. Arc. Jaune! Er, Arc. That is, Jaune Arc. It's nice to meet you both." He gave them both a quick bow at the neck, not at all confident enough to offer them his hand.

Pyrrha smiled brightly, whereas Weiss sported a guarded frown.

"We were just discussing teams. Have you given any thought as who you'll partner with?" Pyrrha valiantly tried to keep the conversation going.

"Er, partner? I was under the impression we were going solo." No one had told him he'd need a partner. He thought of Ren and Nora and wondered if either of them needed a partner. But after some consideration he decided that the two would probably be better off with each other. After all, they basically grew up together.

"Oh, yes. An upperclassman told me that the initiation is particularly challenging and that we'd need to choose partners if we wanted to survive. The partners we choose stay with us for the next four years"

Oh boy. Well, it can't be helped.

"Well, that's certainly something to think about. I suppose I'll just let the dice fall where they will. I don't really know anyone here anyway. So, I don't have much of a preference in partners. Thanks for the info, though." He thought of Slade, and lamented how much better suited he was for this sort of thing.

"Not at all. You know." She nudged Weiss, who'd gone quiet. "Weiss is new here too. So, you needn't feel left out."

Weiss sputtered for a moment before coming back to herself.

"Y-yeah. That's part of the challenge anyway. Like Professor Port says, a true hunter should be able to adapt to any situation. So, don't worry about it too much." She looked him in the eye. He forgot the world around him for a moment. "Just remember your training and you should be fine, er, Jaune, was it?"

Her voice had a sharp snap to it, like walking out into a refreshing winter's day. He thought he'd heard it somewhere before. Jaune felt a swell of confidence. He wasn't the only one without a clear direction.

"Hey, thanks." He held Weiss's gaze for a moment longer than he thought he could. "Hey, listen, would either of you know where locker 525 is? I've been looking for it all day, and this thing's getting heavy." He shrugged his rucksack.

Weiss turned and looked about. "It's over there." Weiss pointed a thin finger several rows down. "It's just on the edge of that far row."

Jaune bowed his head again in thanks. "Appreciate it. Again, it was good meeting both of you."

* * *

The girls bid him farewell, and watched him stumble off in the direction of his wayward locker.

Pyrrha observed Weiss as her eyes followed the young blonde walk down the corridor. She let the white haired girl bask in her thoughts before nudging her again. Weiss, startled, scowled at Pyrrha.

"You know, you'd gone a bit quiet just then." Pyrrha had a small smile on her pale face. "I saw the way you looked at him. Have you two met before?"

"Wha? O-of course not." Her eyes darted about like a cornered animal. "It was just that I didn't have anything to say to him. A-and I don't like meeting new people all at once." Weiss nodded to herself. Pyrrha noticed her cheeks had gone ever so slightly pink. "Plus, he was so hopeless, I wouldn't even know where to start explaining half the things he's missed. Most of it was in the pamphlet! It was in every seat on the plane." She pouted and folded her arms, satisfied at her defense.

Pyrrha hadn't missed the way the young swordsman had taken to her smaller comrade either. This would be interesting. She peered at the young girl, who seemed to be grumbling to herself. Besides, she didn't often get opportunities like this, and while she was of the opinion that one should let chance decide what it may, there was nothing wrong with blowing on the dice a bit.

"Hm. Come. It's almost time for initiation."

Her verdant eyes sparkled as she and Weiss made their way to the cliff side.

* * *

White puffy clouds rolled across the vast blue expanse of the sky. Sweeping strokes of silken clouds swashed across the sunlit canvas. In the distance, dark storm clouds wounds around ladyfingers of sunbeam. Birds flittered about, chirping their greetings, and singing their songs for anyone who would listen. The midday sun beamed down on the thick forest below.

So, this is how they plan to kill me. Jaune peered over the edge of the cliff face. No, no, let's not walk into the Emerald Forest like sensible people. Let's orbital drop into the Emerald Forest, and shatter every bone in our bodies. That'll be really impressive. We'll be dead, but at least we'll look cool as we die.

Jaune stepped back onto the small metal square that served as a launch pad. The platform hummed and came to life as the pressure plate sensed his presence. I mean, sure, it'll get you out there, but how do they expect us to get back? This place is on a cliff. Is there a staircase somewhere? Can I opt to take the stairs?

He looked down at his 'armor'. It merely consisted of a torn and patched pair of jeans, a comfortable hoodie, and a bare chest plate with shoulder guards, all held together by leather straps. He didn't exactly have a parachute. He looked around at his fellow students who were also lining up on their own platforms. He saw Ren and Nora at one end, readying for the launch. He saw Pyrrha and Weiss stare determinedly into the horizon, knees bent, and weapons drawn.

Maybe they used their aura to help soften the blow? Jaune frowned and rifled his brain for anything anyone had told him about surviving a fall from great heights. Alright, try to get caught up in a cluster of branches or something. Maybe twist yourself around so you can grab a branch and swing down to ground level. Don't crash on your head or spine. Protect the spine. Maybe take a blow to the chest or use your arms? I'd crack or break a few ribs, but those can be healed. I might pop out a finger or two, maybe the whole hand, or even a shoulder, but I can reset those. Shit.

Jaune's heart began to race. His face flushed with anxiety. He rolled his shoulders to keep his body loose.

"We're going to make this interesting. The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years. Choose well."

Huh? Jaune hadn't even noticed Ozpin and Goodwich's presence. He'd missed Ozpin's entire speech.

"Any questions?" Aw crap. "Good. Begin."

Nora and Ren were sent flying. The blonde girl and her red hooded friend from the plane were next. Then Jaune felt the ground drop out from under him. He flailed in the air for a time before snapping his arms to his sides and his legs together. He arched his back to get himself as close to a forty five degree angle as possible.

Crazy Pete's frantic voice screamed in his mind.

"Remember boy, if you want something to go far and up, forty five degree angle. Now, me? I just shoot everything all over the place. More exciting that way. Oh, don't give me that. To hell with the fire hazards."

The wind whipped through his hair and blurred his vision. He dared not look down. Instead he focused on an unmoving point on the horizon. He could make out a glint of blonde and trails of fire following in its wake. The girl from earlier was propelling herself. A streak of red passed him, he assumed it was pyrrha. He could feel his ascent slowing; he was about to the crest. He would fall soon enough.

He could clearly make out Weiss as she passed him. She was awash with natural sunlight. She seemed to be hopping from one translucent platform to another, using some sort of hand gesture. Her thigh length skirt rippled in the wind. She gracefully leapt from one to the next as if she were skating on plates of ice.

That was about when his stomach flew up into his throat. He had no choice but to look at the rapidly approaching canopy of trees. His hoodie flapped violently in the air. He shot out his arms and legs.

Don't panic. Don't panic! Dear Dust this is going to hurt.

He did his best to make his body go lax, and let the current carry him as it would. He focused his vision on a cluster of fast approaching branches and hoped he still had the use of enough limbs by the end of this to hold onto one of them.

He finally slammed into a thick bough of a tree. He caught it in the gut. He felt his chest plate compress his insides. The air in his lungs heaved from his mouth in an exclamation of pain. He tried to ignore the cracking and the further burst of pain it caused. He keeled over the branch and fell several feet. He lashed his arms out and caught another branch, cutting into his gloves. His arms were almost pulled out of their sockets. He grit his teeth and used the momentum to swing himself around several times, bringing him to a halt. He could feel his palms burning.

He heaved painfully as his lungs protested the ordeal they'd just been though. It felt like he was breathing fire. He looked down and saw that he was still a good twenty feet from the ground. He angled himself toward the trunk, swung himself off the branch, and snapped his limbs around the trunk.

He gradually crawled half way down the trunk, he heard his heartbeat hammering in his ears, his head spun, and he lost his grip. He crumpled to the ground in a heap.

The swordsman undid the clasps on his chest plate and took deep breaths. The sharp pain that greeted him wasn't as bad as he'd thought. Good, only a few cracked ribs then. He rested his head on the warm forest floor for several minutes, willing his head to stop spinning, constantly reassuring himself that he was no longer falling.

He turned to his side and shakily got to his feet. Jaune opened a pack on his belt and took out a small paper packet of crushed herbs. He emptied the contents into his mouth and cringed at the bitter taste. The medicine would dull the pain and encourage healing.

He slumped against the rough trunk he'd just fell down. He took in the sounds of the Emerald Forest. Various birds and creatures twittered about. Behind all that, he heard the tang and clang of metal. Someone was in a fight.

That spurred him to action. He took off at a jog with a rough estimate of where the sounds of battle were coming from. As he ran, the sounds became louder, more distinct. He heard growls and snaps. He heard the whistle of something sharp flying through the air, and the satisfying thwak of the same projectile hitting something solid. He heard a soft crystalline sigh hang in the air. He couldn't fathom what that might be.

The break in the foliage meant he was nearing a clearing. The dark shape of a doglike creature with low stance and jagged teeth meant he was running headlong into a pack of Beowolves.

He put on a burst of speed, drew his sword, and ignored the pain that burst through his chest. As he entered the clearing, the Beowolf snapped its head about, only to receive Jaune's shield in its jaw. It yelped and stumbled back, stunned. That was all the time Jaune needed to drive his sword through its neck. The body slumped to the ground. The head sagged to the side, hanging on half severed muscle and flesh.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He rolled to the left just as a set of powerful jaws closed in on where his neck had been. The beast lunged at him. He angled his shield so the wolf would slam into the sturdy metal. He timed his movements, and lashed out his arm, bashing the beast's head. He leapt into the air and brought his sword arm down. He plunged the blade into the soft neck flesh of the beast, and watched as its burning eyes dimmed and extinguished.

Something cold whizzed past him. His head shot up just as a second shard of ice flew past him. He whirled around to see two more wolves frozen to the ground. He didn't waste time, and ran for his helpless foes. He leapt in the air, his sword raised high, and brought his arm down, dissecting the head of the first. He dashed forward, dragging the blade up. He caught the second in the side, tearing through its stomach and spine in one clean cut. The green grass was awash with dark steaming blood.

Jaune wheeled around looking for more danger, but all he found was a girl bathed in white light. She was standing about halfway across the field, her rapier held in a relaxed position in her left hand. Her luminous sky blue eyes regarded him steadily. He relaxed his stance, panting hard, and made his way over to her.

As he approached, she seemed to become smaller and smaller, until he came to a stop in front of her, and she was a good half a head shorter than him. Funny, I thought she was taller.

They held each other's gaze. Weiss cocked her head to the side and Jaune gave her a friendly smile. A delicate tiara perched on the side of her head, like icicles. Her thin rectangular earrings glinted in the sunlight. And the stone in her necklace shimmered as the thin silver chain embraced her neck jealously.

Before either of them could speak, a commotion at the far end of the clearing drew their attention, and their weapons. After some rustling, a girl in a red hood stumbled out of the thick foliage. Jaune didn't remember her name.

"Wha!" She took a few shaky steps and lost her balance entirely. She collapsed to her knees, sighing heavily.

The girl finally looked up, seeming to recognize Weiss. Her expression brightened immediately.

"Oh! Uh, Weiss, hi there." The girl snapped to her feet.

Weiss gave her a steady look and frowned deeply. "Yes?"

"W-well I guess we're partners then. This'll be great!" She pumped her fist in the air.

Jaune glanced at Weiss. She had lost interest in the girl and had begun inspecting her nails. Well, I guess it's still her call. Everything happened so quickly. Something seemed to twist within Jaune when he considered that she might not want to partner up with him after all.

I suppose it's just as well. You're stuck together for four years. It's not a decision to make lightly. There's so much to consider; form, technique, synergy. What if no one partners with me, do I just go at it alone? That wouldn't be so bad. I won't drag anyone down at least.

Just as Jaune was about to step away and continue on his own, Weiss scowled at the other girl.

"You dolt. Are you blind? We are not partners. This is my partner!" She thrust a well-manicured hand in his direction. "Seriously, how could you not notice Jaune was here the whole time? That's rude, you know."

Well I'll be. She remembered my name. Don't screw it up, Jaunny.

The girl's silver eyes widened in surprise and dimmed when they fell on Jaune.

"O-oh, I see. I-I'm sorry. I just thought that—" She bit her lip.

"Do you ever think?"

"Don't sweat it, it happens." Jaune didn't want the girl to feel bad; she'd just made a mistake that was all. "Chin up. Keep moving, we've still got a lot of ground to cover."

She seemed to brighten at the encouragement and flipped out a collapsible scythe.

A farming tool? Well, I guess some people just have to do things the hard way. I can certainly relate.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm Ruby by the way."

"Jaune Arc. Pleasure."

They shook hands and Ruby dashed off into the forest.

Jaune gestured in the direction Ruby had run off. "Shall we?"

Weiss simply nodded and ambled along beside him.

They reentered the thick forest in silence. Their boots crunching leaves and fallen branches was the only sound that passed between the two. Above them, birds twittered, flittered, and chittered about, greeting the humans that walked across their home. The smell of fresh dirt and rain soaked into their noses.

Weiss ejected an empty cartridge from the adjustable cylinder on her rapier. She produced a blue dust cartridge from her pocket and slid it into place. The chamber spun with a rattle.

"That's a pretty neat weapon you've got there." He thought of Nora, and how she'd questioned him about his sword. Maybe it was customary to ask about people's weapons. "How does it work?"

Weiss cast him a sidelong glance. "This is Myrtenaster, a Multi Action Dust Rapier." Beams of light that fought through the thick canopy gleamed off the immaculate blade. "I had it custom built by the finest smiths at my family's disposal." She sounded proud of the workmanship. "It works as a focus to help me manipulate dust." She gestured to the chamber.

She glanced down at his sword and shield. "That's a nice sword. From what I saw it's pretty sharp too. People won't expect that. These days no one has any appreciation for the classics." She started gesturing with her hands. "Did you see that Ruby girl's scythe? First of all, it's a farming tool. Seriously? And second, do you know how many moving parts it has to have so it can fold up like that? Any of those parts could fail at a critical time during battle. Not to mention it has needlessly overengin—"

Her foot caught on a root and she began to tumble. Jaune shot out and caught her by the shoulders.

"Hey now." He pushed her back on her feet. "Easy does it, Weiss. Don't want you to fall." His blue eyes were soft and his tone, gentle.

She stood there for a moment, staring blankly into his chestplate. Jaune became self-conscious as the seconds became a full minute. He cleared his throat. She snapped out of her daze and brushed his hands off her shoulders.

"I-I'll be fine." A light pink flush bloomed on her pale cheeks. "T-thanks." She stepped around the root and stomped onward. If her thin legs were anything to go by, Jaune thought her boots were a bit too big for her.

He shook his head and jogged after her. The sudden movement upset his aching chest, and he hissed in pain.

"What's wrong? Did you get hurt?" Weiss' cool gaze flew over his body, taking him apart and putting him back together. She noticed his chestplate hanging at his side, and guessed he'd hurt his torso.

"I took a bit of a tumble when I was coming down from the, er, sky." Jaune tried to give her a reassuring smile, but she merely frowned and started rummaging in one of her pockets. She took out glowing vials of dust, collecting them into her right hand while she rummaged with her left.

"Blast! I haven't got any medicine. How could I be so careless?" She carefully replaced the dust. "It has to be a pretty serious injury if your aura couldn't heal it." She looked back up at Jaune with what he thought was her attempt at an apologetic expression, but all it did was make him feel like he'd done something wrong and was about to be scolded.

He held his hands up. "Hey, don't worry. I took some herbs with me this morning, and ate them just as soon as I landed." He patted her shoulder. "I won't slow you down."

She looked as if she was about to say something, but shifted her gaze away. She finally looked back at Jaune and nodded.

"Fine then. Let's be quick about this and get out of here."

They walked in as companionable silence as two complete strangers could. Jaune kept an eye on her footing and she kept her eyes open for danger. She tripped three more times as they walked. He caught her each time.

"You know, I'll guide you through if you want. I spent a lot of time in the forests around my village."

"A-absolutely not! Thank you very much, but I'll manage just fine." She turned her nose up and stumbled onward.

Jaune shrugged, sighing. "As you wish." He easily outpaced her and, breaking through to another clearing, waited for his little partner.

He unclasped a canteen from his belt and poured some water down his throat. He gulped some cool water. It seemed to ease his aching torso. This clearing was much like the previous one only more expansive. Poppies and dandelions grew happily amongst the thick tall grass. Bright midday sun streamed down on the green forest floor. Each warm finger of light caressed a grateful blade of grass or basking flower. The soft chittering of squirrels and other rodents tickled his ears.

Faint grumblings overtook the sweet sounds of nature. Jaune looked back with a bemused expression. When Weiss finally poked through the foliage, he struggled to stifle a snicker. Her neat skirt looked rumpled, there were twigs in her white hair, and some of the same tresses had come away from her ponytail.

She stomped up to him and crossed her arms in a huff.

He smiled and wordlessly offered her his canteen. She gave it a look as if it were going to explode into an army of spiders. Jaune swished the contents in front of her. She snatched it out of his hand and unscrewed the top. She softly pressed her lips against the mouth of the bottle and drew the water into her mouth like a doe drinking from a lake. Her slender neck worked steadily, ferrying refreshing water into her stomach.

"Thank you." She gave him back his empty canteen. She brushed the twigs off her clothes. She undid her ponytail and her white hair cascaded down to her waist. Jaune was momentarily stunned. The bright sunlight caught against every strand, showering her with pure white light. She rapidly ran her long fingers though her soft hair, combing out the leaves and twigs.

She's… an angel. She has to be.

Jaune turned and scanned the horizon. In the distance he could make out the soft pink silhouette of the castle ruin where they had to find their relics.

"Hey, I can see the ruin, it's just up ahead." He pointed to the faint structure in the distance.

Weiss had rearranged her ponytail, and looked, for all intents and purposes, exactly as she had before she'd entered the forest.

They'd made it about half way through the clearing before Jaune felt something was off. He motioned for them to stop.

"Hey Weiss, do you hear that?"

"Hm, what? I don't hear anything." Her eyes darted about cautiously.

"See, that's just it. I heard birds and critters all over the place." Jaune paused to listen. There was no such noise anymore. "Where'd they all go?"

The two hunters wheeled about. Jaune kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw. Weiss had already unsheathed her rapier. The quiet grew to a palpable stillness.

"Jaune?" Weiss' whisper sounded like a shout.

"Yeah?" Their backs touched and their shoulders relaxed ever so slightly.

"Something's wrong here. W-we should get out of here now." They started circling in place, keeping each other covered.

They made one full rotation, when Weiss grabbed Jaune's hoodie and spun him around. She pointed at something in the sky. He squinted at it. It was large, black, with powerful wings beating at the air, and it was coming for them. Fast.

A violent screech rattled their eardrums as it shot after them. There was no time to react. Weiss was rooted to the ground, her body shaking as the jagged talons of the Nevermore bore down on her.

Jaune's eyes fixed on the swooping monstrosity above him. It blotted out the sunlight. Each crest of its wings was five heartbeats for Jaune. Each fall, another five beats. He looked down at the back of Weiss' head. She was trembling. Her sword hand was trembling; she was on the verge of dropping Myrtenaster. He cast his gaze back up to the bird. It was closer now. He squinted up at the razor sharp talons. Weiss was in the way. If she stood where she was any longer, she'd be caught up in its clutches.

He stepped forward, circling his arms around her thin waist. Her body felt soft in his arms. The bird was closer still; its horrible shriek shook the hunters' minds. Jaune swept her to the left and tossed her as far as he could. Weiss twisted though the air, her icy eyes wide with shock. Jaune didn't have time to move. He simply seared his partner's face into his memory as it would likely be the last thing he'd ever see.

A slow pain oozed though his right side, as he felt his body lift from the ground. He looked down at Weiss who was faster and faster becoming a smaller and smaller girl, and then a white blur, and then a speck.

As the Nevermore pumped its powerful wings, climbing higher and higher, Jaune's stomach dropped down into his feet. His center of gravity flipped, and he felt as if he'd lose his innards let alone his meager breakfast. He tried to fight it down. He concentrated on the slow pain that was now a full starburst of torture. His insides were being squeezed into configurations they weren't meant to have.

He reached down and grabbed the talons that were crushing him to death. He tried to force them apart, but the muscles of this overgrown turkey were too strong for him. When the bird beat its wings down, the talons squeezed, when it lifted them, Jaune felt some slack. Kia's glowing smile filtered through his head.

When you're in a jam, make like a cat.

Make like a cat….

Jaune's arms and legs were poking out either end of the bird's talons. He straightened his body, stretching his limbs to their limits. He'd limbered up this morning to make sure he didn't lock up and take more damage than he needed to. Now, he would have to see if his exercises did him any good.

He timed the wing beats to when the claws gave him the barest slack. He squirmed his lower half down, rolling his shoulders to help push himself down with his upper body as well. After much twisting, he'd made it about half way. His legs were dangling and his back was pressing up against the pads of the Nevermore's foot.

Jaune made the mistake of looking down and his throat gave a dry gag. The great canopy of the Emerald Forest looked like little pieces of broccoli. Thinking of broccoli got Jaune thinking of food in general, more specifically, the food he was about to lose.

Don't look down you idiot! Jaune concentrated on the boney talons of the Nevermore. Relatively speaking, they were still. He braced his arms against a smooth talon and heaved himself downward. He nearly lost his grip, but caught himself before he plummeted to the ground. Again.

The blonde swordsman was dangling off a vicious black claw. The wind buffeted his whole body, threatening to take him into the high current. He squinted against the whipping gusts at the head of the tainted beast. The clouds seemed like thick, white, weightless boulders. When the bird seemed to crash into one, the light vapor that tickled his cheek revealed their true nature. After they'd passed though, Jaune was covered with light dew. He looked to the far distance, trying to gauge where the monstrosity was heading. He could make out some definition in the now lavender silhouette of the gutted castle.

We're going in the right direction. He remembered that he was alone. Well, I am.

He hoisted himself onto the talon and gripped the leg appendage. He could feel the powerful bone crushing muscles flex and relax as the bird beat against gravity to stay afloat. It's just like climbing a tree, Jaune. Just like climbing a huge flying maneating tree. He wrapped his arms and legs around the thin leg of the beast and shimmied himself up to the thigh.

At that juncture, it very much wasn't like climbing a tree, rather it had become like climbing a mountain with one's bare hands. There wasn't anything for him to securely crawl around. The flank of the beast was all that would allow him passage to the back.

Well…. If he made it, he'd be able to progress; if he failed he'd die. Jaune, in a moment of pure insanity, unsheathed his sword with his left hand, and swung himself down so he was dangling about the leg on one arm. Be one with the cat. He swayed his hips to build momentum, swinging to and fro, toward the thigh and away. He swung his sword in time. Finally, he cast forward once more, and pushed off.

He was suspended in the air for mere clicks of time, but he could feel every finger of wind fondle his hair, every wisp of cloud vapor caress his skin. He pulled his sword arm back and the metal gleamed in the upper strata of Vytal. He willed his arm forward, aiming for the taught thigh of the avian abomination. A jolt of victory lanced though him as half the blade slid through the thick hide. He plunged forward and held fast to his weapon with both hands, bracing his legs against the bloodied haunch. He didn't look down.

Three large glowing shards of light flew across the horizon. Jaune's world turned sideways as the bird banked to avoid the projectiles. Only for an instant he had better footing. Without thinking he wrenched his blade up from the thigh and took three lunging steps forward, and leapt up to the body. He'd just plunged down to the hilt when the bird righted itself again. Jaune braced himself just between the wing and tail.

He glanced back, his hair whipped across his face. He saw a little white spot bopping along the trees, becoming larger and larger. Weiss. It had to be. She shot three more ice shards in his direction. This time, one of them lodged itself above Jaune, squarely on the bird's back. The Nevermore gave a loud roar of pain. Jaune's ears shook.

He looked to the dust made ice shard. It seemed like as good a foothold as any, and under the circumstances he had no other choice. He kicked up the side of the bird, around his pitched sword, twisted around, and wrenching his improvised stake free, swung it into the ice.

He didn't know how long the artificial ice would last. The bird was still more or less straight, but it was starting to slow down. All the wounds were finally starting to take their toll. Jaune tried the same maneuver again. He swung himself around and over the ice shard, and jammed his blade into the back of the vile beast. It gave an anguished screech.

Now that Jaune was along the spine of the creature, the wind beat mercilessly against his body, threatening to take him off his unwilling mount and have him plummet to the ground. He looked back to check on Weiss' progress. He could make her out clearly. She'd angled herself behind and above the large raven. She projected a glowing platform behind her and kicked off, holding her sword in front of her like a spear. She shot forward and pitched herself next to Jaune. The bird faltered and fell several tens of feet before catching air once again. It was hobbling now, swerving this way and that; the blood loss was getting to it.

"You lunkhead!" Weiss' powder white ponytail streamed from her head in waves. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? We're supposed to be partners here. How are we supposed to work together when you start taking fool risks like this!?" A light sheen of dew caused her to shimmer. Her bangs whipped across her defiantly blazing eyes. Her cheeks were flushed with frustration and adrenaline. Her mouth was set in a stubborn pout.

"You know, you're cute when you're angry!" Jaune would later feel mortified for saying such a thing to such a person, but when you're confronting certain doom, you tend to say what's on your mind.

Jaune smiled at her irritated expression. She had said something, but he'd missed her response over the raven's screech.

Jaune looked about, seeing the bird flying sluggishly, straining to get to the ruined tower.

"I only really thought this far. Any ideas, Weiss?"

"We should take the head!" She flopped about, as the bird flailed this way and that.

Jaune noeded. "Great! Can you use your launch pad to shoot us up there?"

Weiss shook her head. "My glyphs draw from my aura. I used too much chasing after you! If I use it again I won't have enough to shield myself from attack!"

"Say no more." Jaune thought for a moment. He looked to his sword, which was firmly lodged in the beast. He looked at Myrtenaster, which gleamed primly. He reached out and wrapped an arm around Weiss' narrow waist, drawing her closer. "Weiss!"

"What!?" Her bangs were tickling his nose.

"Hold onto me and give me your sword. We've got a bit of climbing to do!"

She nodded and snaked an arm around his waist. She reluctantly let go of her trusty weapon and clung to her partner tightly. Jaune reached out and grabbed the rapier. He pulled it free, heaved up and pitched it back into the swooping bird. It cried out in pain. He did the same action with his longsword. Another anguished screech. Another few feet closer to the neck.

The overgrown raven flipped over, turning Jaune's world literally upside down. Weiss' grip around his waist tightened, his ribs cried out.

"Guh! Weiss! Can't breathe!"

"Jaune, don't you dare let go!"

The bird righted itself. It swerved this way and that, shaking violently to undo its tormentors. Jaune and Weiss flopped here and there, turning over and slamming against the thick hide of the bird. Jaune's hands hurt as he increased his grip on the two blades. He pitched forward whenever the world seemed to be straight, but that was harder and harder to judge as the whole thing just seemed like one big wobbly mess to his overwhelmed mind.

Weiss noticed Jaune slowing down. She didn't know what to do to encourage him, so she gave him a squeeze. All that served to do was drain Jaune even more.

"Jaune keep going! We're almost there!"

Jaune grunted something mangled and incomprehensible.

Finally, they'd made it to the head of the beast; bone fragments protected it from a premature death. Jaune's vision was starting to go out. Dark fingers crept into the side of his vision. The thin oxygen coupled with Weiss' vice grip was taking its toll on him. His body ached, and his mind begged for rest.

With one final lurch, he slammed both blades into the neck of the Nevermore. Viscous black blood spurted out into the clear sky. The stakes slid out of the neck as the bird began to lose its life force and fall to the ground.

Jaune and Weiss fell for the second time that day.

The world slowed for Jaune as he made eye contact with his partner. She looked scared. She didn't want to die, but it looked like there was no alternative. Jaune threw the two swords into the sky and took Weiss into his arms. He pulled her arms from about his waist and repositioned them on his chest. He curled his body around her and burrowed her head into his chest. He angled himself so his back was to the ground. She didn't have enough in her for another boost glyph. If nothing else, he could shelter her fall.

They fell through soft, cool masses of clouds. They plunged through fresh autumn winds. Their bodies weren't quite high enough to reach freefall, so Jaune knew he would most certainly feel the ground coming. He saw the blue expanse pull away from him. He looked down at his little partner. Her impossible white hair whipped about in the wind. It would be alright, Jaune decided. This was a good way to go. His mind drifted back to the previous night where his fears and anxieties had turned his imagination sour. He hadn't considered he'd go protecting someone. It would all be worthwhile. That's all he wanted.

Weiss clutched the front of his black hoodie. His chestplate had drifted behind him during the drop. Her eyes were screwed shut, protecting her winter blue pools from seeing any of the unpleasantness.

"Don't' be afraid. You're going to be okay." Jaune's voice cracked slightly. He thought of Slade's charismatic smile. He thought of the days after he'd woken up. Slade had stuck to him like his own Dust given shadow. Jaune had always thought of him as the big brother he never had, but couldn't bring himself to tell him. One simply didn't blurt those things to local heroes. He wished he had now.

He thought of sweet Kia. He thought of how she'd purr contentedly as he'd comb his fingers through her honey blonde hair. He loved the feeling of her soft velvety hair under his hand. He unconsciously ran his hand though Weiss' hair. It felt the same. She always seemed to know where he was, no matter how hard he tried to hide. Especially when he was feeling lonely. She seemed to put all of herself into making him feel better and he would never be able to repay her for her unending kindness. His faithful little kitten.

His vision blurred as his life washed over him. He thought of Crazy Pete's fireworks, and Rogan's warm bakery. He thought of Kia's mother who had taught him about medicine and whose house always smelled of fresh spices. He thought of the diminutive mayor and his love for history. He'd taken it upon himself to continue chronicling the happenings and times of little Carbo.

His tears fell into the sky.

"Jaune, no!" Weiss' strangled voice reverberated through his chest.

"Shhh! Quiet now. It won't be long." Jaune applauded himself for being so bold. He closed his burning eyes. He was ready.

Something lurched against his back. The ground? He felt his shoulder pads, his chestplate, and the armor along his back seemed to halt. He felt his descent slow drastically. Did his body go into shock? Did he strike the ground so hard that his mind couldn't comprehend any of it, and simply started registering sensations any way it pleased?

Finally, he felt the ground behind his back, his armor, his body, and Weiss all seemed to weigh twice as much. He instinctively curled himself around Weiss in an effort to protect her from any further surprises.

Minutes passed. The gentle swaying of the trees in the newly autumn wind washed over their ringing ears. The soft twittering of birds danced through the fresh afternoon air. One or two crickets had decided to accompany their avian neighbors with their own song. The ground felt warm and inviting. The hard surface soothed the aches in Jaune's exhausted body.

"Jaune?" Weiss' voice was small and unsure.

"Yes?" he breathed.

"Are we dead?"

"I think so." She clutched him tighter. He redoubled his grip on her as well.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"Nonsense."

They lay there for some more minutes. They strained to listen to each other's heartbeat. They couldn't quite make them out over the myriad sounds of nature around them. Jaune thought he heard the crunching of leaves underfoot.

"W-what do we do now?"

Jaune bowed his head over hers. Stray strands of hair tickled his lips.

"Well, if we're dead and we're talking to each other, then we're most likely in the same place right?"

He felt her nod against his chest.

"Then wherever we are we're together, yes?" Jaune couldn't fathom that an angel like Weiss could go anywhere but the heavens, but he kept that to himself.

Another nod.

"Then, we can continue to look after each other and explore this new world. What say you, friend?"

Weiss trembled for a moment. "I-I think I'd like that."

"Excellent." Jaune wasn't brave enough to open his eyes. "We'll just rest here for a bit. It's not like we're in a hurry or anything, right? I mean, we've got all of eternity."

"Uh huh."

Jaune felt cool air nip against his skin; though the sun was still strong and served to stave off much of the cold. He remembered the injuries he'd taken to his chest, and as a consequence, they all erupted at once. He hissed in pain. I didn't know there was still pain in heaven. Sure, why not, I guess. The sound of crushing leaves met his ears once again.

"It's good to see the two of you drop in."

Their eyes shot open.

Jaune and Weiss looked up to see the powerfully built silhouette of Pyrrha Nikos cast against the afternoon sun. She had a bright smile on her pale face and her thick red hair swayed slightly in a lazy breeze.

"P-Pyrrha?" Weiss squeaked.

A smaller girl with a red hood walked up beside Pyrrha. "I'm here too! Hi, guys!"

Jaune looked from one to the other in mild shock. "Are you both dead too?"

The redheaded amazon chuckled lightly. "Oh, none of us are dead." She smiled down at them and offered her hand.

"We're not?" Jaune and Weiss lay there together in a daze.

Pyrrha shook her head. Her smile widened. Ruby beamed down at them and offered them her hand as well.

Their brains considered the idea for a time. After concluding that it was a favorable outcome, they jerked themselves awake, flailing in a tangle of limbs and red faces. They finally shot to their feet.

"Ha! We're alive!" Jaune pumped his fist into the air.

"But how? We were falling pretty fast. And I couldn't cast a glyph to slow us down." Weiss folded her arms across her chest, analyzing her most recent near death experience.

Pyrrha shrugged, her eyes twinkling. "Who knows? Maybe you just caught a break." She gestured to the blasted castle ruins. "Come, our objective awaits."

The quartet walked in silence toward the ruins. Jaune and Weiss found their weapons lodged into the ground some distance away side by side. An incredible coincidence all things considered, but they didn't question it and silently rearmed.

They found themselves at a crumbling bridge that led to the forest tower. Jaune peered over the side and saw a river tumbling along a very long way down. He could make out the jagged black feathers of the Nevermore lodged into the structure's brickwork. He whistled. It was a long way down.

They crossed the bridge without incident and entered a circular room with no roof. Crumbling columns stood evenly along the perimeter of the room, and cracked brick slabs made up the floor. It might have once been a modest hall. It was no such thing now. On the remaining few standing pedestals, golden statues glittered and black statues stared mutely. The yellow haired girl that had been friends with Ruby stood to the side with a black haired girl with pensive yellow eyes. She nodded to Jaune and gave him a thumbs up. He responded in kind.

"Yang!" Ruby called happily to the blonde girl.

"Ruby!" responded the girl with equal excitement.

They met midway and high fived.

Jaune walked over to a golden horse head. Weiss walked up beside him eyeing a golden rook figure.

"They're chess pieces," she mused. She lightly touched the golden horse. It was cool to the touch. "What do you suppose they mean?"

Jaune shrugged. "Beats me. They all look like glorified doorstops."

Weiss made a sharp noise which might have become a giggle had she not suppressed it in time. Even so, the ends of her lips remained quirked.

The pair selected the golden knight piece and Jaune gave it to his partner to carry.

"Hey, nice work out there, killer." The impressively endowed blonde, Yang, sauntered up to him. "We saw you take down that Nevermore."

"Yeah, well." Jaune glanced at Weiss. "It was a team effort."

The girl's lavender eyes swept over Weiss. "The princess, eh?"

"Hey!" Weiss snapped.

She gave him a nudge and a wink. "Well, good luck killer. I'm Yang by the way. Ruby's sister."

He'd seen her with Ruby several times now, so it made sense that they could be related. They certainly didn't look anything alike, but it was what it was.

"Jaune Arc. Pleasure." He offered his hand, and she a good hard pump.

"I'm Blake. We should start heading back." The yellow eyed girl silently stalked up to them with Pyrrha and Ruby in tow. She had the other golden knight statue, while Pyrrha had a golden rook tucked under her arm.

The gaggle of hunters made their way through the shattered hall and across the crumbling bridge. When they reached the forest floor, a rustle in the trees drew their attention. A loud sonorous rumbling shook the ground. Everyone drew their weapons, confident that they had the challenge matched in numbers if not in sheer firepower.

Trees toppled as something big cut a swath through the forest.

Jaune glanced at Weiss, her sword pointed at the trees; her stance was open and light. "How's your aura doing?"

She shook her head. "Still no good. I need to rest."

He nodded. "Alright, hang back here and cover me. Can you still shoot those ice bolts?"

Weiss hesitated for a moment before responding. "Yeah. Alright." She ran her right hand along the rapier, the chamber spun to a blue cartridge, casting the blade in a faint blue glow.

Jaune gauged his injuries. His chest was on fire, his legs felt shattered, his back was probably broken, his neck felt like it'd been hanged, and his head was pounding. All told, he was alright. He figured it'd be some great bear type Grimm. He'd be able to take it if Weiss kept it busy with her ice shards and he kept moving and struck hard and fast. He readied his shield.

Just as he was about to charge forward, a large black beast blundered though the aged trees. It looked like an overlarge perversion of a bear with vicious spines and bone shards for armor. And riding atop its head like a pony was Nora. It collapsed with a strangled groan. The ground shook.

"Aw, it's broken," pouted Nora.

A young man in a green jacket and cream colored pants stumbled out of the recently trampled path.

"Nora." He panted heavily, his hands on his knees. "Please never do that again."

Nora's sparkling eyes found Jaune. "Good Sir. Jaune!"

She bounced off the dead Ursa and bounded over to the young swordsman. She gave him a mock salute before enveloping him in a bone mashing hug. His insides screamed in pain.

"Guh! Nora, I'm hurt, please let go."

She immediately released him, looking slightly sheepish. "Haha, sorry."

He patted her shoulder. "That's alright."

Nora looked over to Weiss, then back at Jaune. She did it again five more times, before gasping, putting her hand to her mouth, and squeaking something incomprehensible. She hopped on the balls of her feet.

"Oh! Good Sir. Jaune and his Lady!"

"W-what!?" Weiss sputtered, an angry flush spreading across her cheeks. "What is she talking about?" She pointed an accusatory finger at Nora. "W-who is she anyway?"

Jaune chuckled lightly. "Calm down, Weiss. It's just Nora. She's a friend."

Nora beamed.

By now Lie Ren had refilled his lungs and walked up beside his partner. He nodded to Jaune. Jaune gave him a thumbs up.

"Come on Nora, we're the last ones here. We should finish the mission."

"Okiedokie!"

Nora ran across the shattered bridge, skipping across the broken bricks, while Ren walked at a measured pace.

"What a strange girl." Weiss murmured as she watched them go.

Ren and Nora emerged with their own idol, a golden rook, and the small group collectively made their way back into the forest. The peak that signified Beacon Academy was far off in the distance, and it would take some time for them to reach it on foot. They resolved to introduce themselves and recount their individual adventures in the forest.

"Well, after I met you guys I just sort of wandered off into the forest. I had no idea where I was going and then wham!" Ruby punched her small fist into her hand. "A spear goes through my hood and nails me to a tree. So, I'm freaking out thinking that I'm a total goner. I dunno, maybe there's some kinda Grimm that shoots spears at people before it liquefies them, y'know?"

Jaune laughed.

Ruby grinned up at him. "And that's when I met Pyrrha."

Jaune ruffled her hair. "See? It all worked out in the end, right?"

"Y-yeah, I guess it did," replied Ruby, her cheeks having gone slightly pink.

Jaune looked around at the group of hunters he'd found himself a part of. Nora was regaling Yang about a dream she'd had the previous night. Ren was talking quietly with Blake about a book they'd both read. Their hands were animated and gesturing; Jaune figured that they were quite deep in their conversation. He looked about for Pyrrha and Weiss and found that they'd fallen behind. Weiss was stumbling stubbornly through the thick wood, and Pyrrha was walked alongside her with a small smile on her face. She kept a respectful distance away. She'd probably offered to help as he had, and been stoutly refused.

A small smile bloomed across his face.

* * *

"So, Weiss." Pyrrha cast as sidelong glance at her longtime acquaintance.

"Yes, Pyrrha?" Weiss responded though gritted teeth. She stumbled over a small stone, but caught herself just in time.

"Jaune Arc, eh? What do you think of him?"

"He's fine." Weiss' eyes were trained ahead of her. Jaune was talking amicably with the little Ruby girl. He's having a good time….

Pyrrha smiled. Her emerald eyes gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. "Do you think you'll work well together?"

"Of course," she responded without hesitation. "It was my choice who my partner would be, and he'll do just fine." Her foot caught in a root. She stopped herself, dislodged her foot, and continued walking.

Pyrrha nodded primly. "Though, he is quite handsome, if I may be so bold. Don't you agree?"

"Wha-!" Weiss stumbled and lost her balance. She expected to meet with the hard forest floor, but only felt the soft cushion of someone's cloths and a masculine grunt. Pyrrha smiled to herself.

Weiss gingerly looked up to see the smiling face of her partner. His blonde hair blazed in the orange sunbeams. His expression was light and friendly.

"Easy there, partner." He gently lifted her by the waist and set her back down on her feet. She hadn't quite noticed how strong he was until then.

"T-thank you, Jaune." She looked down, doing her best to hide her face with her bangs.

"Any time, pardner," he responded with a mock western accent. He turned and took her left hand in his. "Come on."

"W-wait! I can walk on my own. You don't need to do that!" Weiss tried to wrench her hand free, but Jaune's larger hand was too strong. It felt warm against the autumnal breeze.

He turned back to her with a smile. She thought he'd finally seen reason and would release her, but he merely readjusted his hand so he had a better grip on hers.

"Nope." He turned back and continued to gently guide her around roots and pebbles.

Weiss sputtered as they overtook their companions. "Y-you brute! You rogue, let go of me right this instant!"

She could hear the stifled giggles of their companions follow in their wake.

"Can't do that pardner. I've gotta look after you." Jaune replied boldly. He didn't look back at her mildly stunned expression. She tugged halfheartedly at his hand.

And as they crossed fallen trees, brooks and streams, her protests became fewer and fewer. Her hand, comfortably clasped in Jaune's, began to relax. Her long fingers, perfectly pampered and smooth, gently curled around his own. The ends of her lips turned up and her clear blue eyes brightened as they looked upon Jaune Arc. Her partner.

* * *

And there it is. Let me know what you think, folks. It can be a oneshot, i can keep going. It's all up to you.


	2. Chapter 2

Pictured: Chapter two in its natural habitat.

* * *

They said he'd been asleep for weeks. When he snuck into Slade's house that fateful night, it had been the middle of summer. He remembered the balmy night air. When he woke, the leaves had turned puce and gold.

When his eyes opened, no one would give him a straight answer as to what had happened. Rogan would look him over with his stern, dark eyes and squeeze his shoulders. Crazy Pete's face would twitch and he'd ramble off, grumbling about insanity and Dust, and what manner of punishment this was for a kid. Kia's mother would hover about him giving him one bitter restorative tea after another. He thought he drank more of her tea than he did water. Kia would alternate between crying and throwing herself at him, assuring herself that he was still alive. And when he would respond that he was, in fact, alive and well, she would only cry and squeeze harder.

Then there was Slade. Slade puzzled him the most. While others would filter in and out of his room, Slade would sit there, watching. It was only when everyone had finally gone. When Rogan went back to his shop, and Pete wandered off, and Kia's mother had to wrench her sleeping daughter away from him, that Slade moved.

He would give him water. At first he'd spoon it into his mouth, but after the first few times, it became annoying and Jaune told him to cut it out already. The barest flicker of a smile shot across Slade's face before it went back to a clouded, stony expression.

"What's up, Slade?" he'd asked quietly.

He shook his head, ran his hands though his hair, and dropped back down onto the chair where he'd kept his vigil.

"I'm just, thinkin', little buddy, that's all. Get some sleep."

"What happened out there? I was sure you had it in the bag."

Slade chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, well, I got cocky. Just remember that Beowolves are never alone. Ever."

Jaune laughed weakly. A silence fell between the two friends. Jaune ran his bandaged hands over his equally bandaged torso. His body felt as if someone had replaced his blood with sand. Every time he moved, he felt the jagged little granules grate against his parched bones. He looked to his longtime friend, whose stare was busy interrogating the floorboards.

"They fixed you up pretty good eh? I'm glad."

A pained expression crossed Slade's face, but he said nothing more.

Jaune wanted to feel irritated about it. He wanted to grab someone and demand they tell him what had happened. He wanted them to tell him how his best friend had come back from the dead, and why everyone was giving him all those looks. He didn't like being left out of the punch line; especially if the punch line was him.

But he couldn't. Thinking back, Jaune felt that, on some level, he already knew what had happened. So, he stayed quiet. He let the people around him do what they needed to make them feel better. He figured that eventually, they'd let him leave, and that he'd be able to get back to Rogan's shop.

This went on for a week, before they finally released him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he walked into Rogan's warm bakery. Slade's place was cozy and all, but nothing beat the smell of warm fresh baked goods. After his first week back, Rogan had given him a great big piece of cheesecake to celebrate.

"Thanks, Mr. Black."

"Ah, think nothing of it, boy. Nothing of it." His deep rumbling voice dominated the small dining room.

Jaune took another bite of buttery cheesecake. He loved how it melted in his mouth. "I was wondering if I'd be out of practice since I've been gone so long. I'm just glad I didn't fall too far behind."

Rogan's wife and daughters had been taken by Grimm long before Jaune had come to this town. He needed someone to look after him, and Rogan needed to accept and move on. They both had the mayor to thank for arranging the whole thing.

"Nonsense, m'boy. I didn't make you into no halfwit." He reached over and put a meaty hand on his shoulder. Jaune colored at the complement. It wasn't often Rogan gave them out.

They cleaned the plates away together.

"Jaune." Rogan's expression turned dim. "Slade said he'd like to see you tomorrow when you had a chance. I told him you'd be over after work."

Jaune tossed a washcloth into a bin. "Sure. Is something wrong?"

Rogan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Na, it's best he tells you himself. Just…." He looked down at his charge with steady black eyes. Jaune looked up at him expectantly. "No, nevermind. You'll see him tomorrow after work."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Rogan went to the small second floor of the bakery to retire for the day, and Jaune waited until the floorboards stopped creaking and the spring mattress finished groaning. He quietly went back into the tiny dining room and walked up to a small shelf where a small framed picture stood looking down on the table.

Two little girls with their father's black hair and their mother's jade eyes smiled down at him. A strongly built woman held her two girls in her arms, and smiled at the man behind the camera. He could never look at them for too long. Their gaze was scathing. They reminded him that what he tried to gain by being in their home would never quite be his.

Jaune put his hands together and closed his eyes.

"Thank you for letting me into your home."

He did it every night since he found the picture. He quietly asked that he continue to be allowed to live among them and that he meant no harm to their house. He bowed slightly and went up to his own room. Their gaze burned into his back.

* * *

There was a nip in the air that he didn't remember feeling quite so sharply in the past. The amber sun was giving way to a smoldering red lake along the horizon earlier and earlier. The autumnal winds were becoming biting and unrelenting, giving way to winter gusts.

He trudged down the lane in the direction of Slade's house.

He hadn't seen his friend since he'd been discharged from his house. Jaune didn't know what was going on, but he trusted Slade to have his reasons.

He breathed warm air into his hands. He couldn't seem to stay warm.

As he walked along the dim streets, a soft and furry tail wound itself around his arm. Kia bounced into step beside him.

"Nyaha! I found you. And where do you think you're going?"

She wore a lavender turtleneck that was two sizes too big for her. She'd balled up the ends of the sleeves in her fists. Her wine colored skirt ended just above her knees, which were wrapped up in black leggings. Her soft brown boots crunched the earth beside him.

Jaune reached up and pet her on the head. "Hey. I'm heading over to Slade's. He needed to see me about something. Don't see why he couldn't just come by the bakery where it was nice and warm."

Her teal eyes held his for a moment. "I'll come with you." Her voice had sobered, and Jaune considered asking her about it, but figured she was still acting strange from when he woke up. He gave her one last scratch behind the ears. She purred appreciatively.

They walked in silence arm in tail. The second largest building next to city hall, Slade's house sat at the end of the town's main road. It was two stories high, deep, and wide on account of the libraries, armories, and guest rooms that his family had accrued over time. Slade also owned the surrounding five acres which were left to their own devices, allowing the flora and fauna to grow at their pace.

As the pair plodded up the steps of the thickly built porch, a warm lantern hung in greeting above their heads. Jaune pulled back the iron knocker and rapped it against the solid oak door three times.

"Coming!" Slade's voice was muffled by the thick wooden door.

Heavy footsteps approached. Someone rustled with the lock and the door swing open to reveal Slade wearing an apron and a chef's hat that had gone askew.

"Aha! There you are, Jaune." He shifted his gaze to Kia. "Oh, you're here too. Well, good thing I accounted for all this." He flipped a spatula in his hand. "I figured you'd be hungry, so I'm whippin' up a casserole. Come in, come in!"

He ushered them inside and led them to his sitting room.

"Hang ten for a bit, guys." He shuffled off into the kitchen.

Jaune sat heavily on a couch facing a large fireplace. A light fire crackled merrily. Kia sat next to him.

Slade's house was built of solid wood and stained with dark, smoldering finishes. Dust powered lights hung like a shower of luminescent needles from the high ceiling.

"How've you been feeling, Jaune?" Kia asked quietly.

Jaune thought for a second then shrugged. "Yeah, I'm alright. I'm just glad to be back at work, y'know?" He crossed his legs and stretched his arms out behind the couch. "You know how Rogan gets when he's overwhelmed with orders."

Kia nodded, her eyes stared into the fire. She looked up at him in mild surprise. "But you don't feel strange or anything? S-since you woke up, I mean?"

Jaune shook his head. "Naw. I mean, it's a bit colder than I remember, but wasn't your mom saying something about a bad winter this year anyway?"

"Mmm…."

They lapsed into silence, each gazing into the fire; Jaune, exhausted from his day of work, and Kia, lost in thought. Her tail swished back and forth pensively.

Soon the aroma of baking vegetables and meat curled through living room, rousing the two friends from their musings.

"Alright, dinner time, guys!" Slade called excitedly from the kitchen.

Jaune got up and stretched. He led Kia through the kitchen and into a spacious dining room. Slade stood at the head of the table, his chef's hat still askew. He placed a large glass baking pan onto the lacquered table with two light green oven mitts. A dust chandelier twinkled brightly overhead.

Taking the seat at the head of the table, Slade gestured to the steaming tray. "Go on guys, dig in."

They ate in silence. Jaune rolled the piping hot beef and greens around in his mouth, chewing deliberately. The food put color back into his cheeks. As he swallowed, the heat pooled in the pit of his stomach and radiated outward, warming his whole body. He glanced up at Slade. He didn't so much eat as much as he attacked his food with animalistic fury. Jaune wondered if he even stopped to chew, or he just inhaled his meal and let his stomach do the work. Kia, by contrast, ate in little nibbling bites. Jaune smiled as she separated her veggies from her meat, saving it for last. She made a slightly sour face as she ate her vegetables, she never liked them. Her bright eyes would meet with his from time to time.

When they finished and the dishes were put away, they adjourned to the living room. The fire crackled happily.

Jaune looked up at Slade who stood at the hearth, his arms crossed, and his head bowed. His burgundy polo and warm brown slacks felt like a natural extension of his burning house. Slade knew how to dress. Though his excited manner from before had sobered considerably, leaving behind a brooding scholar. His dark gray eyes blazed as they consulted the fire for some hidden wisdom.

Kia perched on the arm of his chair, her tail curled around his shoulders.

"So, how've you been these days, Jaune?"

Jaune's right eye twitched. "Alright, what is with everyone asking me that these days?" He shot to his feet. "Everyone's been walking on egg shells around me ever since I woke up, and no one's given me a straight answer!"  
"Mew…." He whirled around to see Kia had shrunk back to the far end of the sofa, her ears flattened against her head.

He deflated instantly.

"I'm sorry." He sighed and slumped back into his couch. Slade looked downtrodden by his outburst. "What's going on, Slade?"

Slade looked up at his ancestors who loomed over them all. He sighed and ran a hand through his short, sloppy, ash blonde hair.

"Alright. It's best I just show you."

He walked to the center of the room with his palms facing out. He closed his eyes and book deep, calming breaths. His youthful face relaxed, he looked as if he had fallen asleep standing up. Jaune tensed slightly. What was he getting at?

Kia had crawled over to him, and lightly clutched his elbow.

Then, slowly, a single silver slip slid though the fingers in his right hand. It caressed his hand and floated to a point just within the grasp of his palm. Seconds passed, and another ribbon joined it. Than another joined the second, and another after that, until they were a teeming collection of dancing ribbons. Jaune looked hard and saw, at the core of the frantic dance, a central pulsating glow of ghostly gray light. It grew brighter with each successive pulse, eventually drowning out the tasteful dust lamps and the innocently crackling fireplace.

"This is my aura, Jaune." Slade's voice was serene. "This is the manifestation of my hopes and dreams. A reflection of my emotions. It defends me against attack, and gives me a boon against those that would do me ill."

The glow seeped into his hand and crept up his arm, and throughout his entire body. Before long he was a pale silhouette in the middle of his living room.

"It's so bright." Kia's grip increased on his elbow. He reached over and clasped her hand.

"Yeah…." Jaune had seen his friend's aura before, sure, but this was something else entirely, to see it so up close, so raw. He could only marvel at the strange energy that coursed through Slade's veins.

Slade channeled his aura into his left hand. The silver phantoms reappeared in his palm. He brought his fingers together and pointed his palm to his waiting left hand. The specters obeyed and became an iridescent river as they cheerfully flowed through the warm air into his empty hand.

"Now take a look at this." He turned out his left hand as before. Jaune leant forward. A chill ran down his spine.

A small white spark ignited in the grasp of his palm. Seconds later a golden speck, like a firefly, flittered toward it from the ether. It joined the middle spark, and as it did so, the spark grew brighter and gained a sunlit quality. Then another and another. Soon, countless little motes of bright gold sped to the center of their little galaxy. The golden mass began to pulsate. Jaune knew that it was beating in time with the silver orb in Slade's right hand.

Kia's aquamarine eyes sparkled as she sat mesmerized by the display of raw color and energy.

Slade's face was perfectly placid, awash in silver and gold. "And this is yours."

And that was the missing piece.

He pointed his palms toward one another. While Slade's natural aura flowed like a river, Jaune's glittered and migrated like the vast expanse of space. Little golden stars burst across the living room sky in their little cluster galaxy. The two met in the center of Slade's chest, they wound around one another, explored each other, and melded into one. The individual gold and silver glow gave way to a bright phosphorescent blaze. Jaune had to squint to keep eye contact.

It was equally a silver river with gold stars, and a golden galaxy suspended in silver liquid space.

The central harmony split again into two parts of the same whole. They drifted and wandered back to the two outstretched hands. And just as slowly as they had appeared, they dimmed and fell back into a plane that man could not see.

Slade took a deep breath and opened his solid gray eyes.

"Do you remember now, Jaune? That's how I survived that night." He turned and sat down on a sofa that sat askew to his fireplace. He threw one leg over the other and propped his chin up with his palm. The fingers under his black socks curled and stretched.

Jaune stared at the warm woolen rug that massaged his bare feet. It was done up in soft browns and muted reds. He tried to lose himself in the nonsensical patterns. So that was what had happened when his hand blazed gold. He felt his body, tried to gauge how he should feel about the whole thing. He didn't feel any particular ache or discomfort. He didn't feel less healthy or alert. It was a bit colder outside than he had expected, but it was also a sign of a bad winter.

He shrugged. He looked up at Kia whose ears had dropped in concern. He shook his head at Slade.

"So, what? What does this mean?" His voice was quiet, unsure.

Slade uncrossed his legs and pitched forward with a sigh. He placed his elbows on his knees and cradled his chin under his interlaced fingers.

"It means that things are going to be a bit harder for you, that's all. Not impossible, mind, but harder." He stood and began pacing. "Only the worst criminals in the world have their aura's sealed, and even then they can access them in times of great emotion. Get a high enough adrenaline count going and you can trigger your aura again. You don't' have that luxury."

Jaune looked down at his feet.

"The real problem comes when you're being attacked." Slade's brows knitted together as he prepared to go into an explanatory rant. "Aura, it protects you. It represents your hopes and dreams and everything you strive for. A vague distinction, I know. It isn't like you still can't have those things without your aura, Jaune. Nevertheless, it's integral to every man, woman, and child on the planet. And most importantly, it's the main thing that separates us from the Grimm."

Kia hissed sharply. "H-hey, don't say it like that! It's not like he's any less human than you or I."

"No, no, no, of course not." Slade marched over to her and squeezed her shoulders. "But it does act as a sort of barrier, a forcefield, from attack." He looked over at Jaune. "And there are a lot of monsters out there."

Slade went back to his sofa and slouched down onto the seat.

Jaune continued to gaze into the rug, seeking some hidden wisdom woven underfoot. So he wouldn't be able to go out and fight Grimm, big whoop. He'd be more than happy being a baker's apprentice. Heck, he was a baker's apprentice.

Jaune looked up and peered at Slade. "Alright, so I don't have a forcefield thing, what's the big deal? I can keep working with Rogan, never leave town and live out my life that way."

Slade's eyes dimmed in disappointment. He slowly leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "I… don't know if that's what's best for you anymore." he began, slowly.

Jaune looked away. He never liked it when Slade had that look in his eye. He felt worse that it was because of him.

"What!? How can you even say that?" Kia shot to her feet, her tail rigid and shaking. "Jaune needs to be in the safest place possible for him, and that's right here. And just what do you propose he do instead?"

Slade met her gaze evenly. "I propose he learn to defend himself properly, so that he need never fear the outside."

Jaune's head snapped back. "Howzzat?"

Slade looked at him with a bright smile. "Yeah. I want you to start training with me. Tomorrow. First thing." He stood up, reenergized. "We'll start your training early. I'm about to delve into the books and routines my family's been following for generations anyway. And I want you to be a part of it." He held his hands out at his sides. "What do you say, old buddy?"

Jaune thought about Rogan and his warm bakery. "What about the bakery? I'll still have time to work there right?"

Slade's smile fell a bit. "Well, no. Not especially. Our regimen is going to be pretty intensive, and I'll need to modify some exercises for you. I've asked Rogan if it would be alright if you came to live with me from now on."

Jaune's chest felt heavy. An image of smiling jade eyes and smooth dark hair flashed though his mind. "And what did he say?" A part of him was afraid of the answer.

"Said you were your own man now and you could make your own decisions. Quite frankly, I agree."

My own man….

The faded green eyes were scowling at him again.

"But Jaune loves the bakery. He's worked there all his life." Kia said quietly, her heated stance had long since cooled.

"Hm." Slade folded his arms and look down at Jaune. "Well, what say you, friend?"

He tried to think of the woman and the two girls again.. Perhaps it'd just been a flight of fancy that caused their angry gaze. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get them to smile at him again.

"Don't you think you should give him some time to think—"

Jaune reached up and squeezed her wrist.

He looked up at Slade, whose eyes were steady as boulders. They held no scorn or false hope, merely promise for his own betterment.

"I'll do it."

He moved out of Rogan's bakery that very night.

* * *

Weiss stood on the stage of a dark and desolate theater. The roof was little more than a skeleton of decaying beams; a roosting place for crows and scavengers. The seats, once immaculate and comfortable were now moth worn and rotting. She was cast in silver light pooling from her family's crest, a snowflake. What had once been done up in fine blue stained glass, was now a blasted out hole. Chilling snowflakes drifted in through the gaping maw. Weiss felt the cold seep into her bones.

She started to sing. She knew he would come when she did. She knew nothing good could ever come from his presence, but she sang anyway. She could never recall the song she sang, but she always knew the feelings it evoked.

Loneliness. Not aloneness, for she wasn't gullible enough to believe that she ever be alone in this dilapidated cathedral. No. It was pure bleak loneliness of which she sang. That was what would bring the giant golem.

The shadows yawned and stretched. They came together in scornful whispers, oozing into a looming, horrible shape.

Weiss drew Myrtenaster, and pulled her left arm across her body. Her stance was open and light. The dark mass shambled forward into the shower of light, revealing a giant iron knight.

The giant raised its sword overhead and brought it down on the young girl. Weiss flipped out of the way, cast a glyph behind her, and shot forward. She erupted in a flurry of strikes that did little more than annoy the giant. She resolved that if she kept moving, she would be able to avoid the majority of its assault.

The knight turned and swung down at her again. She rapidly switched to a red cartridge. Just as the rusted blade was about to smash her head, a crimson forcefield deflected the attack. She cast a glyph at her feet, shot forward, and delivered another barrage of slashes. They weren't sinking in.

She cast a rune in midair, and leapt forward to attack from a higher angle. The beast blocked most of her blows and swung again. She twisted out of the way, but didn't catch the metal fist that charged at her. It slammed into her side, sending her sprawling. Only her aura prevented her body from being completely shattered.

The darkness was creeping onto the stage. She was losing focus. She always lost focus around this time. She staggered to her feet, the giant was charging at her with killer intent. She cast a glyph at its feet and sent it flying into the air. It corrected itself in midair, and bore down on her. Her legs felt like lead, her head swam, and a profound sadness washed over her.

She couldn't beat it. She could never beat it.

The rusted iron knight blotted out the pale silver light. The darkness hungrily leapt up onto the stage. The sword mercilessly crashed down on her head.

Her eyes snapped open.

* * *

"Jeez, how do you work these things?" Jaune Arc stood in front of the full length mirror nailed to his and Weiss' wardrobe. He wrestled with the red tie that threatened to cut off his air supply. If he tried to loosen it, it tightened. If he tried to undo one of the five different knots he'd worked into it, it would try to kill him.

He glanced around the room they'd put his team in. It was pretty big. There was one large window that overlooked a quaint little courtyard at the far end, two large wardrobes set near the door, and two large writing desks that they'd pushed against the window. They even had an unusually spacious bathroom with two of everything, though they had to sacrifice any possibility of a tub.

When they'd gotten there the previous evening, their four beds were scattered about the place, making things seem a bit more crowded than they had to be. They'd put it to a vote and had decided to make bunk beds. Weiss was strangely excited about the idea.

"This will be great! We'll save more space. Extra space means more storage! Well? Get to it, lunkhead. Chop, chop."

Currently, all of her cases were stuffed in their joint closet. His own rucksack was slumped next to it dejectedly. She insisted that she would organize it and make room for him later, but he wasn't holding his breath. If her highly volatile Dust was happy, he was happy.

He walked over to the window, hoping the flowerbeds below would grant him some sort of great insight into tying his tie. Drowsy morning light washed over his face and spilled into his still sleeping room. He gave his tie a good tug. Nothing.

He heard a light yawn next to him, and he turned to his left. Weiss had woken up. She looked like a delicate princess in her light blue nightgown and her long white hair hanging around her like a curtain.

"Good morning, Weiss." Jaune offered her a smile.

Her blue eyes stared through him at something far away before coming into focus.

"Oh, good morning." She rubbed her eyes and sat up. "What time is it?"

"About seven thirty. We've got an hour and some change until class."

She nodded and got up.

Blast. He'd introduced a sixth knot into his tie.

She walked over to their closet to collect her own uniform, and Jaune silently wished her luck with the little ribbon he'd seen some of the other girls wearing. Weiss padded back over to him and gently turned him around. She pulled his hands away from the poor tie that was just as strangled as he was. Honestly, it looked more like a hangman's noose than a student's tie. Her long fingers deftly undid the knots. Each freed knot allowed him to breathe a little easier.

"Ah, thanks, Weiss. That's a relief."

She merely nodded with his tie liberated from his neck and tugged at his jacket. "Take off your jacket."

He did so, and tossed it over the back of one of the chairs. Weiss popped his shirt collar and threw the tie around his neck, evening out the two ends.

"Honestly, whoever chose bright red ties for our uniforms was a complete dolt." She wound one end over the other and gently tugged. "Seriously, deep red and blue, side by side? Amateurs." Jaune tried to follow her hands, but they were working too fast.

"I dunno, I kinda like the vest."

Weiss huffed. "Obviously, it matches your eyes." Her bangs formed a perfect curtain over her eyes. With one final tug, his garish red tie was complete. "There."

"Thanks, partner."

She nodded, collected her uniform and silently walked off to the bathroom.

At eight, he roused Ren and Nora, who slept on the opposite bunk.

"Good morning, Jaune-Jaune!" Nora hopped off the top bunk and skipped about the room happily. She stopped near the window and basked in the brightening sunlight.

Ren, on the other hand, greeted his teammate from the lower bunk with a silent nod and a stretch.

Nora dashed off to collect her own things and promptly scampered off to the bathroom. There was a muffled sound, like a crash.

Weiss' shriek sliced through the walls with ease. "Nora!"

"Good morning, Lady Weiss!"

Jaune and Ren shared a bemused look and shrugged.

* * *

The four teammates walked along the bright cobblestone path to their first class as hunters of Beacon Academy.

Jaune filled his lungs with fresh morning air, and looked around happily at the bustling student body. Young men and women smartly dressed in their uniforms bustled about, going to one class or another. Some of the upperclassmen didn't have classes until later in the day, and chose to loaf around fountains and benches with their friends. Jaune picked up on snatches of their conversations.

"Hey, how was your summer?"

"Excellent! I got that upgrade you were telling me about. Really helped stabilize the…."

"Hey, you goin' into town this weekend? I gotta get this sharpened and balanced."

"Yeah, there's this one coffee shop I've been meaning to go to."

"Oh, those two look cute together, don't you think?"

"Yeah, her hair is really pretty."

The sounds of laughter hopped through the bright morning air. Jaune could hear faint harmonic tones getting stronger and stronger as his little group approached the building where Professor Port was holding his first class. Sure enough, on the steps to the main entrance, four young men in pinstripe suits and sharp hats sang in four part harmony.

"That lucky old sun's got nothin' to do, but roll around heaven all day…."

Jaune nudged Weiss and gestured at the barbershop quartet.

"Hey, Weiss, think we should start a band?"

Weiss briefly thought of the idea. She could certainly sing. She imagined Jaune playing a melody, Ren as bass, and Nora could play drums to her heart's content. She tried to hide a smile behind her bangs. She being the only one with any real talent, it would all naturally end in disaster.

"You lunkhead."

She pushed him along as his laughter mingled with the singing troop's smooth tones. Before entering the building, she caught a glimpse of a little sign that stood at the singers' feet.

Team BSQT: Bill, Sam, Quinn, and Ted the Tenor. Beacon Academy's one and only Barbershop Quartet, now releasing their fifth album, Blue Jay Blues!

The interior was coated in creamy tones with warm burnt wooden trimming. It reminded Jaune of Slade's home. Weiss consulted her timetable.

"Professor Port's class is on the second floor. Come on."

She led the way up a flight of stairs and down a large, wide hallway. Large double doors on either side of the hall led to, what Jaune assumed, where other lecture rooms.

Jaune gazed about at the inverted lighting that cast a welcoming glow along the whole corridor. He was about to turn to Nora to ask her what she thought of the place when someone shoved past him, cuffing him in the shoulder.

"Oh, excuse me." Jaune tried to apologize to the thickly armored figure, but the russet haired man had stomped away without looking back.

He shot a look at Weiss. "Well, that guy's certainly in a hurry."

They finally turned into one of the further rooms, and made their way down into the first rows of the classroom. Weiss led the way.

Long swooping tables ran along rows of cushioned benches. Soft ropes of inverted light lined the high ceiling. Carpeted steps led the students down the pews. And in the center, a gray stone slab was set into the floor. Dark wood and cream colored walls dominated this room as well.

"Let's get good seats. I've been waiting all summer to see Professor Port in person."

Nora and Ren shuffled down the bench, then Jaune gestured for Weiss to take the next seat, taking the one along the aisle for himself.

A large wooden desk stood in the far center of the room. Behind it, large posters of Grimm anatomy hung over a heavily smudged whiteboard. Jaune could make out the cross section of a Beowolf and a Boarbatusk. He'd seen similar diagrams in Slade's books.

From the far corner a door opened, revealing a rotund man with an impressive steel gray mustache, pink face, and small, dark eyes. He swept his gaze over the assembled students for a moment before he moved to the desk and shuffled some papers about.

Jaune fumbled with his thin drawstring backpack. He slapped a notebook and pen down onto the table as the professor walked around his desk. The professor checked his wristwatch for the time, and then looked up at the clock hanging against the back wall.

"It's good to have you all in my class. I am Professor Port. This is Grimm Studies 1. If you're looking for Aura Studies with Professor Goodwitch, you'll want to be on the other side of campus."

At this several students who had hung along the back rows shot up and ran out of the room.

"We'll wait a few more minutes for the last stragglers to come in and then we'll get started."

Port clasped his hands in front of his large stomach and spent a few moments studying his charges. He loved seeing the eager fresh faces of the inexperienced, as well as the grim, wary scowls of those who've seen some of what the world had to offer.

Weiss had already begun furiously taking down notes. Her sharp blue eyes shot back and forth from the hanging diagrams to her paper. Jaune peered over her shoulder and noted her exceptional drawing skills. She was taking down the overhead images point for point. He elected to jot down important weak points. In battle you didn't have time to recall a whole diagram.

A commotion at the top of the stairs drew his attention away from his note taking. Ruby and her team had just tumbled through the large double doors, and were stumbling down the stairs. They crashed through the pew just across the aisle, and sank into their seats with a collective groan.

Professor Port's voice boomed throughout the room. "Well, that looks like everyone. Let's get started, shall we?" He moved to the center of the stone stage.

"Hunters, huntresses." He shot a wink and a click of the tongue at Yang. She rolled her eyes. "You are the first and last line of defense against the horrible darkness that is Grimm. These Grimm will come in many different varieties, and in this class you will learn a good deal about a fair variety of them. But always keep in mind that no matter how large or small, the one thing that they will always have in common is their unending thirst to tear humanity limb from limb. And you, dear students, stand as defenders of the very foundations of civilization that we hold dear!

"Let me tell you of a brave and handsome young hunter. Me! I had been charged to dispel a den of Beowolves…."

As the professor prattled on, Jane took down notes on hunting groups of Beowolves while alone. The truly useful information was buried deep, deep, in the man's self-serving account, but the insight was there nevertheless. Jaune peeked at his partner's notes. Weiss had also jotted down similar ideas, annotating her diagrams as the professor mentioned specific weak spots.

Good, I'm on the right track. Satisfied that he was doing a good job, Jaune absorbed himself once more in his professor's tale.

"And there I was, my back to the canyon wall, and tens of hundreds of Beowolves salivating at the mere thought of pulling the meat off my young luscious bones, when, in a stroke of genius I…."

Weiss glanced over at Jaune. She expected him to be dosing off, but was pleasantly surprised to see him attentively taking notes. People often wrote off Peter Port as a braggart and a bit of an idiot. What they didn't realize was that he was making subject matter that would otherwise be frightening and uncomfortable into something entertaining and colorful.

She went back to her notes. Her left hand scratched away at the paper. Jaune's right assaulted his own. As she reached back to a new line, her knuckle knocked against something. She and Jaune looked up in surprise. Their eyes met.

"Ah, sorry."

"N-no, that's alright."

The pair shuffled around so as to avoid knocking into each other again. Both sported light flushes.

Nora smiled over at them before burying her head back in her notebook. She started a new doodle of Sir. Jaune and Lady Weiss battling a great dragon.

"And I returned with the den mother in captivity, a hero!"

A student in a black V neck shirt clapped furiously at the professor's story.

Port waited for more students to join in on the applause. His only reward had been the continued awkward clapping of the one student, another had sneezed.

He cleared his throat. "Yes, well." He sauntered off to the back room and wheeled out a large metal cage. The students in the front row could hear feral growls rumbling within. "Right, which of you will test your might and bravery against one of these thrice damned foes of all that is good and pure in the world?"

Jaune and Weiss shared a look and raised their hands. Ruby and Pyrrha had also put in their bid; Ruby bounced in her seat, stretching her arm out as high as it could go, while Pyrrha opted for a more subdued approach.

"Hm. I see, I see. Well, this could be interesting. If nothing else, certainly an opportunity for some good learning." His dark eyes peered owlishly at Jaune and his dainty companion. His mustache shook as he considered his plan. "Yes. You, my boy. Do you and your lady friend happen to be partners?"

"Er, yes sir."

"Excellent. Why don't the both of you go get changed into your battle outfits, and when you return, your trial awaits!" Neither Jaune nor Weiss liked the gleam that entered the older man's eyes.

Jaune turned to Ren. "Well, wish us luck."

He and Weiss rose and headed for their lockers.

* * *

Jaune and Weiss marched purposefully back to their Grimm Studies class in full battle gear. Jaune had stoked up on his medical herbs. He didn't expect to need to use them, but it never hurt to be prepared. Weiss, on the other hand, had reloaded the chamber on Myrtenaster and had had brought along a few extra cartridges.

They stopped at the foot of the door.

"Hey, you ready for this?" Jaune turned to his partner.

Weiss' eyes blazed. "Yeah. You said your aura was on the fritz the other day. It's back to normal now, right?"

Jaune's lips pursed. I'm going to have to tell them eventually. The sooner I get it out of the way, the better.

"Listen, about that, I—"

The doors swung open.

"There you two are! Come on, Killer, Princess. Your trial awaits." Yang rolled her eyes and ushered the pair onto the stone stage. "Here they are, professor."

"Ah, good, good. I had sent miss Long out to find you. The school is rather large, after all. Now, prepare yourselves while I fiddle with this." The diminutive professor stood on a ladder and fiddled with large latches. Jaune could hear acidic hisses and sputtering rolling out of the cage. Wisps of caustic steam hung in the air, and the bitter, metallic smell of burning wires made his nose curl.

This cage was not the same one that they'd seen before they left.

"Weiss?"

"Yes?" She breathed. She'd also come to the same conclusion, and her imagination was torturing her with each and every one of the infinite possibilities.

"That cage wasn't twice as big as the professor before we left, was it?"

"N-no. I don't think so."

"Oh boy." Jaune pushed his fear deep into his gut and readied his sword and shield. He rolled his left shoulder, keeping his shield arm nimble.

Professor Port had by now climbed on top of the tall cage. He stood proudly with his arms outstretched, like a circus director.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what do a brave knight and a clever princess, have in common?" He gestured to Jaune and Weiss with a flourish, "Why, a mighty dragon of course!"

The two hunters looked at one another. What?

Without warning, the professor slammed his foot down. The latches gave way, the hinges creaked, and the door fell with a slam.

A long serpentine body slunk out of the metal shell. Students gasped as the long, angular head of the beast cast tis smoldering eyes this way and there. It let out a roar and snapped its jaws at the audience.

Nora sat silently horrified as her soft blue eyes darted back and forth between the scene in front of her and her idle drawing, depicting much the same situation. Ren quietly reassured her that it was all a complete coincidence.

Weiss tried to assess the creature as fast as she could. No wings. That was a plus. But the long flexible body is going to be just as dangerous. Judging from the heavy caustic smell, this particular variety had acidic properties. She shot Jaune's shield a look. She wondered if it would hold out against its attacks.

Jaune shot forward in a sweeping arc, attempting to come at it from the side. Weiss mirrored his movements. She sent a wave of bone shattering ice at the serpent, but it twisted out of the way. It snapped and hissed at her.

This gave Jaune the opportunity he needed.

"Weiss, I need some air!" He ran headlong for the dragon.

Weiss cast a rune at his feet. It activated and sent him flying into the air. The dark lizard whirled its head around to meet the new threat. It spat a bile green jet at the falling knight. Jaune pulled up his shield just in time for it to catch the brunt of the sizzling spit.

He came down at its neck. He twisted his body around and channeled his forward momentum into his sword arm. He sliced once, then twice through its neck, and hit the ground at a roll.

The creature let out an unholy wail. It wheeled around and snapped its jaws at Jaune. It caught his shield in its powerful maw. It twisted his arm violently back and forth. Sharp stabs of pain lanced through his shoulder. Jaune bit back a groan; it felt like his arm was being torn out of its socket.

Weiss shot forward and lashed out at the neck of the beast with a flurry of lightning quick slashes. They had no effect. Her sword was too light to do any significant damage to its hide on its own. The beast slammed its head into her side and sent her flying back.

Jaune was now being dragged around the floor by his arm. He tried to brace himself against the snout, but it was too slick with blood and mucus. His legs slipped off and flipped behind him as he was thrown around like a ragdoll.

"Weiss, a little help!"

"Hold on!" She shook her head and picked herself back up.

Come on, think, girl, think! She switched Myrtenaster to the blue setting; it would provide more ice shards. She dashed back several paces. She cast a rune above her head and flipped back onto it. She shot upward as if she'd been launched by a cannon. Suspended in the air for a split second, she cast four arresting glyphs at the dragon's feet. But it was moving too fast, they all missed. She hopped off another rune, and swung her sword wildly, sending bolts of ice toward her foe, and her ally alike. She held her sword out like a spear and hoped that the wildly whipping serpent wouldn't throw Jaune in her path.

The black dragon whipped Jaune up above its head. He twisted himself around, abandoned his shield, and jammed his sword into the back of its neck, the ancient blade slicing through its slick hide with ease. The rain of ice bolts crashed down around the lizard, impaling it in its sides.

A heartbeat later, Weiss slammed into its throat from the front, her enhanced rapier plunging to the hilt.

The blood-soaked dragon could take no more. It slumped forward with a mangled rumble from its ruined throat. Weiss fell back and rolled out of the way just as its heaving body slammed onto the stone slab. Jaune stood on its back; split open, it steamed and sizzled as the hot blood within stopped flowing and the innards began to cool.

Jaune hopped down and walked over to his prone partner, favoring his left arm. She was sat primly on the ground with her legs tucked under her. Her face was flushed from the battle, and she took large, full breaths.

"Splendid! Absolutely, splendid!" Professor Port clapped jovially. He was still standing on the top of the cage. "Did the rest of you see that? Mr. Arc used his brute strength." He curled his arms into two flabby caricatures of what had once been muscles. "And Ms. Schnee used her quick thinking and relentless assault to keep the beast off kilter." He waved at Jaune and Weiss. "Full marks, the both of you."

Jaune helped Weiss up and they made their way back to their seats. Weiss undid her ponytail and rearranged it with expert hands. Ren gave his teammates a thumbs up, while Nora looked almost to be in tears. Jaune shot Ren a questioning glance. Ren simply smiled and shook his head, mouthing that he would tell them after class.

"Nice work, Killer."

"That was awesome!" Ruby bounced in her seat.

Port jumped down from the empty cage and took a few steps toward the audience. Gone was the jovial smile, gone was the excited gestures like that of a drunken bard. Port stood firm and tall.

His voice thundered out into the assembled students. "But most of all, these two hunters displayed what I hope to see in all of you. Teamwork is a given. It's efficiency, tenacity that I look for in my hunters. If one method does not work, try another, and another, until your opponent no longer moves. Get the job done as fast as possible. The longer you leave these creatures alive, the longer they have to severely maim or kill you. These creatures are not to be toyed with. It would not do you well to underestimate their power. And to take them so lightly is to embrace your undoing.

"This is the nature of my class. The first half will be book work, the second, practical. Now, since our duo finished early, I want you all to take the remainder of the period discussing amongst your teams, page 187, and how it relates to the dragon Mr. Arc and Ms. Schnee have just felled."

Port strode off behind his desk and sat heavily. The students erupted in a low rumble of discussion.

Weiss turned to Jaune, who was still clutching his left arm.

"Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the nurse?" Her sharp eyes did their best to qualify his injury.

Jaune smiled sheepishly and waved her off. "No, no, it just mangled me up a bit that's all. I just need to give it a rest for a bit, and it'll be back to normal in no time."

It was true. His arm was strained, but not overly damaged. Slade had made sure to perfect his dodging and blocking, as it was almost literally all he had left to prevent himself from immediately getting killed. Thus, he knew how to gauge his arm's condition.

Nora leapt over the long desk and ran over to Jaune. She took his hands in hers and sank to her knees.

"Oh, please, please forgive me! I-I didn't know. I'll never do it again, I swear!"

Jaune had no idea what his friend was talking about. "Er, it's alright, really. See? We're fine, everything's fine."

He shot her a reassuring smile.

* * *

Cardin Winchester sat in the back of the class with his feet propped up on the desk. He'd watched the show the little twerp and the princess put on. His brooding eyes swept over the class and picked out the white haired girl easily. He was mildly impressed by her skill. He was even more impressed by the cut of her skirt.

He licked his lips as he recalled her movements throughout the fight. His face grew hot as he remembered the way the muscles under her milky legs worked as she twirled through the air. He was disappointed to find that her skirt had a feathered underside, leaving her soft thighs for his imagination to uncover.

His gaze shifted to the blonde next to her. Arc. That was his name, right? He didn't like him. He looked like one of those fruity kids from one of those fruity families that 'mingled' with those faunus. He had no idea what a fine slice of cheesecake like Weiss Schnee was doing with that lanky little shit, but he intended to fix that as soon as possible.

He looked down at Weiss as she spoke with that pasty faced little whelp. She had turned to face her partner, giving Cardin a good view of her profile. His eyes fell eagerly down the slope of her neckline, roaming over her delicate shoulder blades, as they gently pushed against her soft skin. He frowned at the annoying piece of black lace that kicked his imagination into overdrive. He felt like he needed to loosen his tie.

He swept his gaze over her face. Her pink lips moved smoothly as they wrapped around each syllable. Winchester imagined them wrapped around something else.

"Psst. Hey, man." A boy with moss green punkish hair elbowed him in the side.

"Jeez, what?" snapped Cardin.

Russell raised an eyebrow at him. "You alright, man, you were zoning out pretty hard just now. Come on, class is almost over and we gotta finish this."

Cardin waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, alright." He cast his lecherous eyes at the Schnee heiress one last time before reluctantly getting back to work. His mind began to plot as it fixated on a girl with snow white hair and alabaster skin.

* * *

Oh, Cardin. Cardin, Cardin, Cardin, you cad. You're going to cause problems, aren't you? Oh, yes you are. Look at them, man. They're just a bunch of kids, leave 'em alone! They don't know whether they're comin' or goin', and now you've gotta throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing? Oh, Cardin...

Chapter three, on the way!


	3. Chapter 3

The song in the previous chapter was 'Lucky Old Sun'. The song in this chapter is 'Walking in the Rain' by Jay and the Americans. Naturally, i own neither. If anyone's got cover art suggestions, i'd be open to them.

* * *

"So, I'm trying to get a drink of water, and Weiss, back me up on this, the guy just walks right into me." Jaune took a bite out of his unreasonably overdressed sandwich. "I'm not gonna lie, I think he's blind."

Weiss peered over at her partner's choice of breakfast. She looked down at her fruit salad. Honestly, who puts that much meat on a breakfast sandwich?

The eight hunters that made up team JWNR (Junior) and RPBY (Raspberry) sat at a long table at one of the school's larger mess halls. The high windows filtered in the flat gray morning light. The student run radio broadcast predicted that it would start raining sometime in the afternoon.

Pyrrha smiled softly at her friend's jest. "I'm sure he's not blind. Perhaps you could take him aside and talk it over. I'm sure it's all a grave misunderstanding."

"I wouldn't be so sure Pumpkin Pie." Yang leaned over and stole a strip of bacon off her little sister's plate.

"Hey!"

Yang stuck out her tongue and popped the crispy delight into her mouth. "The school's gotta meet certain quotas. Maybe he got in cause he couldn't see very well. Equal opportunity and all that."

Weiss stopped trying to decipher what was in her partner's sandwich and turned to the blonde brawler. "That has got to be the dumbest thing I'm going to hear all day. This is a battle school. This is the last place you'll want a person with as severe a disability as blindness. It could get someone killed. Now, brain damage, on the other hand, is harder to spot."

"Well, this Cardin fellow seems to have survived this long. Maybe he's got really good hearing?"

"You think so?" Jaune savaged another bite off his sandwich. Weiss felt sorry for his stomach. "He does seem to have an uncanny ability to find us. Then again, we've been in the library all week working on that assignment for Goodwitch." He thought for a moment. "Brain damage, eh?"

"You two have been making waves ever since Port's class." Ren chimed in. "Maybe he's jealous."

Jaune shrugged, wrenching off another bite of his breakfast sub. A stray piece of bacon had escaped its fate. Ruby eyed it sullenly. He snapped it up and offered it to her, she happily plucked it into her mouth.

"So, Ren, how was practical for Goodwitch? From where I was, you and Nora did great!"

When Goodwitch gave the signal, Ren sprang into action. He didn't register much about his opponent other than he was lumbering and powerful. Jaune had trouble keeping track of his friend's movements. He weaved from side to side, avoiding his opponent's heavy axe with practiced ease. He lashed forward in a green haze and slashed at his enemy's chest with the jagged fangs on the ends of his pistols. With each strike the larger classmate's Aura flared up in the form of angry prismatic sparks, protecting its master from taking any actual damage.

Jaune's eyes shot up to the twin Aura meters projected overhead. The nameless classmate's meter was going down in large chunks. Every hack and slash of the green knives took out another piece of the larger student's natural armor. After a few more strikes, the Aura bar went into the yellow.

The axe wielder tried to swat his enemy away, but Ren was too fast. When the axe swung to the left, Ren was at his right, attacking the back of his knee. When the axe swung around to the left, Ren was already out of harm's way, scrambling up his back, and dealing a double slash to his neck.

The Aura bar had gone into the red, and Goodwitch called the match. Jaune could hardly believe the match had only just begun.

Jaune was glad Ren was on his team. He looked around at the assembly of warriors. Weiss, quietly eating her fruit salad, an accomplished duelist. Pyrrha, who nibbled on some egg fried toast, a four time tournament champion. And Ruby, who was two years younger than all of them all, could wield a scythe twice as big as she was with no difficulty.

Jaune looked down at his half eaten manwich. He felt like he was among legends.

Ren offered the blonde boy a small appreciative smile.

"It was pretty grueling, actually. Goodwitch looks at our footage from the last few weeks and has you spar with the person closest to your skill level on an opposite fighting style."

"Just be sure to keep your Aura up, and you should be alright." Ren continued.

Jaune stared at a far off table. "Er, yeah. Right."

He remembered when they'd first been issued their Scrolls, spending the first part of the class messing around with the settings. They were handy little tablets that performed just about every function a modern teenager would want. Jaune considered using it to call home, but the rates were too expensive for his meager savings. But there was a hiccup. Where everyone else had healthy green Aura meters, his turned up in the red as N/A. He laughed it off and insisted that it was a glitch in his Scroll, and it was projecting the wrong stats. They'd believed it at the time, but he felt Goodwitch's bespectacled eyes follow him all throughout class.

He'd wanted to come clean at the time, he really did, but he looked at Weiss and her set little frown and her trusting crystalline eyes and he couldn't do it. He wanted to tell his teammates first. Then classes happened, the workload picked up, and suddenly it was two weeks later and it was his and Weiss' turn to go one round with another classmate.

He finished his sandwich in silence.

Jaune stood. "I'm about done, so I'm gonna go out and limber up a bit." He put his hand on Weiss' back. She didn't bristle at his touch. "I'll see you guys in class." He picked up his tray and made for the exit. He pat Nora on the head as he passed, she waved, a pancake hanging from her mouth. A chorus of 'see you later's' followed him through the still waking cafeteria.

* * *

Pyrrha's emerald eyes watched as Jaune left the cafeteria. He walked with slow, deliberate steps. She'd seen their little interaction and found it most curious. Weiss wasn't known for allowing others to touch her so casually without some sort of barb, typically involving being encased in ice. So, for her not to even notice when her partner placed his hand on her back was a big deal. The amazon applauded jaune for having worked his way through some of her defenses.

The two had been spending an inordinate amount of time in the library as of late.

She peered at the smaller girl, who was chewing on a cherry pensively. They'd met some time ago at a social function. Pyrrha had gone more out of curiosity than out of a desire to increase her standing in the world. She found herself quickly stifled and bored by the perfunctory etiquette and plastic smiles. Any conversation she'd tried to engage in had all amounted to merely having the exact same conversation a hundred different times. Whenever she'd try to introduce some current events or controversial topic, her companion would expertly steer her away into a vague, and therefore, much safer, line of discourse.

So, it was when she finally excused herself to a lonely balcony, contemplating a swift egress that she found the Schnee heiress perched on the marble railing. They got to talking, bonding over their mutual lack of interest in the gathering, as well as their hunting aspirations. Time went by, and Pyrrha found herself participating simply to keep her young friend company.

"Weiss, how are you progressing with the assignment for Goodwitch?"

Weiss looked up from her diminishing fruit salad. "Oh, it's going great. We're almost done. We'll head to the library later today and finish it off. That's the good thing about the lunkhea—Jaune." Pyrhha smiled at her slip. "He knows how to buckle down and get to work."

Pyrrha sipped at her cup of tea, her eyes sparkling. "You know that assignment isn't due for another week, right?"

Weiss' cheeks turned pink. "I know that. It's just, well, it's good to get homework out of the way so you can concentrate on, y'know, other things."

Other things?

Pyrrha raised a thin red eyebrow. "Oh? Like what?" She hadn't seen Weiss put all that much time into training in her free time. Jaune, yes, but not Weiss. "The two of you spend so much time in the library together, I hardly think you do anything but homework." Pyrrha smiled at her jibe. It wasn't often she had the opportunity for them, especially when the young heiress was involved.

Weiss scowled into her nearly empty bowl of assorted fruits. "W-well, Jaune and I just like our peace and quiet that's all." Realizing what she's said a bit too late, Weiss' face completed turning as red as Ruby's hood. Her clear blue eyes shrank in despair. "I-I mean, I like my peace and quiet." She looked at the far clock. "I-I should get going to class." She leapt up, collected her things, and nearly ran for the exit.

Pyrrha laughed to herself, watching the young girl go. She turned to her partner, Ruby, who was happily drinking milk.

"Ruby, I think it's time we got started on our own project."

Ruby pouted slightly, not at all looking forward to the prospect of going to a stuffy old library. "Oh, alright."

Pyrrha smiled after her white haired friend, who'd just made it through the door.

* * *

Jaune meandered down the lane toward his Aura Studies class. He allowed the fresh morning air to fill his lungs and calm his nerves. He'd been dreading this day all week, ever since Goodwitch announced their first practical assignment would be a single bout against another classmate. Grimm, he was comfortable fighting. There was a certain single-mindedness to their behavior. And in all honesty, it was more like killing a feral animal than anything else.

He walked along until he came to a bench. It overlooked a large statue of a warrior, his leg propped up on a stone, his stance proud, his sword at his side. Elias Arc, read the plaque at his feet. Jaune sank down into the bench and fixed his eyes on the stone visage of his ancestor. The statue stared off into the distant mountains.

It was other humans that Jaune had trouble against. It wasn't that he had some mental block against fighting them. It was the fact that humans weren't Grmm. Humans had the capacity for higher thinking, abstract thinking. Humans could figure out weak points, they could reason out attack strategies and form counter measures.

He looked down at his left arm which was still a bit sore. He pulled at it from the elbow joint, and heard a satisfying pop.

He sprawled out his arms and regarded the statue. He wondered idly what sort of trials he'd had to go through. The Great War had been going on at the time, and beacon didn't even exist back then. He tried to gauge the expression on the statue; hoping it would give him some insight into his character. His jaw was set, his lips, a thin line, and his head was held high. He looked the picture of bravery and determination. It didn't do much to help Jaune feel much better.

He thought back to Nora's fight. It had taken place just after Ren's. The normally chipper girl fell away as she took to the stage. In her place stood a fierce warrior with a rocket powered hammer. Nora would throw her whole body into her attacks, using whatever momentum she had to power her swing. Jaune felt the room shake as her blows sent her opponent sprawling like a ragdoll. Each time her hammer made contact, an audible clap thundered through the room.

He wondered if Elias had to fight living gods.

Before he could continue to quietly query his ancestor's statue, Weiss stomped right by him. She seemed pretty steamed as she grumbled about something incoherent. He smiled, gave the carved stone one last look, and jogged off after his companion.

* * *

Four shards of ice slammed into the faceless student. She tried to unpin herself, but she was stuck fast. A plume of fire burst from the silver rapier and engulfed her in searing hot pain. She could feel her Aura draining, her body aching with fatigue. She was about to give out. The young heiress dashed forward and delivered a vicious flurry of slashes to her opponent's abdomen, weakening her Aura even further.

"That's enough. Well done, Miss Schnee." Weiss relaxed her stance and bowed to her opponent. She pivoted and bowed to the professor, walking primly off the stone stage. The lights in the classroom rose.

Jaune squared his shoulders. This is it. Little butterflies flittered about in his strangely hollow stomach. He jotted down the last of his notes. He gave them a once over, avoiding looking up at the class, and Goodwitch. They looked like the ravings of a madman. His normally neat handwriting was little more than chicken scratch. The images he'd tried to reproduce were completely indistinguishable, and akin to a toddler's scribbles.

He felt Weiss sink into her seat next to him. He didn't—couldn't look up at her.

A beat. She sighed quietly.

"Well, how do you think I did?"

Jaune squinted at his diagrams, wondering why he even bothered taking them down when he had no real talent for drawing anyway. "Oh, ah, yeah, you did great!"

He could feel her scowl burn into the side of his head.

"And?"

"And? Uh—"

"Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester we'll have you up next. Please boot up your Scrolls and take your positions."

"Oh boy." Jaune heaved himself up, took out his tablet and swiped a finger across the screen, turning it on.

As he walked to the stone slab that mirrored the one in Port's classroom. He saw the overhead projector sync with his Scroll. It read out his name, his Aura level, which was still in the red, and had a picture of him on it. He heard students burst into a chorus of quiet giggles. He smiled. He hadn't taken a proper photo of himself so his Scroll used the nearest picture its algorithm could find. In this case, it was a shot of him making breakfast for his team. He wore an apron, a spatula, some pancake batter speckled about his mouth, a goofy grin, and a peace sign. Nora's camera work.

The professor stopped him as he approached the stage.

"Mr. Arc, your Scroll hasn't sorted itself out yet?"

"Uh." He looked up at the screen to buy some time. "I suppose not professor."

His Aura instructor frowned. "Not even with the recent school wide update? It will be difficult to gauge when you are in serious danger, so I will leave it up to you to call the match if you cannot go on."

Jaune nodded.

He stepped onto the platform and the lights dimmed, leaving a single spotlight to illuminate the stage. His opponent, Winchester, melted into existence from the shadows. His heavy gray armor and russet hair gleamed. He shouldered a jagged, angry looking mace that was easily as big as Weiss.

Jane recognized him instantly as his antagonist of the last few weeks.

Great. This guy's been gunnin' to take my head off since he laid eyes on me and now he'll have the perfect opportunity.

Jaune readied his sword and shield. Cardin swung his mace around in a ready stance.

"Begin!"

Cardin charged forward. Jaune barely had time to raise his shield. Pain lanced through his already strained arm as metal struck metal. They disengaged and circled each other. Jaune ducked down into a defensive stance and held his shield close. Winchester swung his mace lazily, eyeing the swordsman like a piece of meat.

Jaune's deep blue eyes darted about the gray armor that almost fully encased his opponent. There weren't any spots he could reliably exploit. It would end up coming down to an exchange of blows, and his own armor consisted of little more than some comfortable cloths and bits of plate metal.

Cardin came at him again. He rolled out of the way. Snapping to his feet, he slashed at Cardin's back. His sword reverberated off the gunmetal armor. Bright sparks of Aura flared up. The demonic mace swung around, and Jaune only barely ducked in time to avoid being beheaded. He lashed out in an upward bash with his shield, catching the taller boy in the jaw. Staggered, Winchester stumbled back. Jaune followed up with two quick slashes with his sword at the gray chestplate. Successful strikes, but Cardin's Aura meter was well in the green. His armor mitigated too much of the damage his Aura would otherwise have taken.

Jaune backpedaled for some distance. Winchester wasn't having any of it. He charged like a raging bull. The blonde dove to the right on instinct alone. He tucked into a roll and sprung to his feet. The head was about the only exposed spot he could consider. But to get at it, he would have to take leaping strikes.

I'll get swatted out of the air. Unless…. Damn it. It's the only way.

He ran forward and leapt into the air. He held his shield out to protect his body from the inevitable blow. As expected, Cardin took a swing and connected. Metal met metal again. Jaune's shield arm flung back from the blow with a snap. Jaune turned with his arm, twisting his body around, and slammed his sword into Winchester's square head. He went sprawling.

Janne collapsed onto the ground, clutching his arm. His body and mind were out of sync, that was the only thing preventing him from feeling a vicious burst of volcanic pain flow from his ruined arm.

The mace wielder was down. Jaune ran full tilt, sword at his side. He scrambled up Winchester's broad metal encased back, slammed his foot down on the boy's upper back, hopping into the air. He whirled his body around and brought his sword down in a brutal slash at his enemy's neck.

Cardin collapsed to the ground, his Aura bordering red. Jaune rolled forward and ended in a sloppy sprawl. His sword clattered at his side. His shield arm slammed into the ground at a bad angle and caught up with his brain. He bit back a scream, as his dislocated arm hummed with mind numbing pain.

Cardin slowly staggered to his feet, and seeing the little twerp on the ground, he chose to take his time. He liked to take his time for the killing blow. He lazily swung his mace back and forth, to and fro. He did a quick figure eight, showing off his power.

Jaune saw this through a haze of red pain. He gripped his arm, which screamed out at his touch. He hoped it wasn't broken. He scrambled back with his feet to buy himself a few precious moments. He groped about between the shoulder and arm joint. He felt the wrongness of the angle and gripped hard. Bile burned in his throat. He growled as he snapped the joint back into place.

The buzzing pain subsided, giving way to a heavy, pulsating throb. Cardin sneered as he advanced on the young swordsman. His dark eyes held a malicious, predatory glint.

Jaune stumbled to his feet only just realizing that he was completely unarmed. He looked around frantically for his weapons. His sword had fallen to his right, and his shield, to his left. Cardin raised his malicious mace overhead and brought it down with a bloodcurdling yell.

Jaune dove to the right, plucking up his sword. Cardin turned and charged at him. Jaune backpedaled and parried the blows as they came. He parried the outer spines most effectively. If he went for any of the deeper parts, he'd lose his sword. Each impact sent shockwaves of pain shuddering through his arm.

Cardin had worked himself into a frenzy, hacking at the nimble swordsman. He wanted to crush the little whelp's head. He wanted to take one good swing and see a shower of blood. He lashed out in long, sweeping strokes, missing by a hair and a breath.

Jaune danced around the battle stage, swatting at the vicious spines as they bore down on him. He couldn't keep this up much longer. Beads of sweat blurred his vision. He missed a swing and a jagged spike grazed his chestplate. Cardin, in a mad rage, cackled with glee. Jaune spied a glint of silver from the corner of his eye. His shield! Maybe….

He had an idea.

He ducked and wove his way over to the fallen item. Winchester swung wildly. He grunted and snarled like an ape, little flecks of spittle shimmered in the lit air. Jaune fell back with each blow. He felt the edge of his shield at his left foot. He pivoted around it and kicked it up. Cardin was in mid swing. The shield flew up and hit the taller boy on the face. His head lurched back. The shield snapped shut with an audible clap.

He was dazed. Jaune ran forward and delivered a dropkick to his opponent. Cardin fell hard. Jaune stepped onto his foe and pressed the point of his blade to neck flesh. The constant glow of phosphorescent Aura told him that he wasn't hurting Winchester to any significant degree.

"That's enough. Mr. Winchester is in the red. Well done, Mr. Arc."

Jaune only heard half of what the professor said. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he was struggling to put fresh air back into his lungs.

The harsh spotlight dimmed and the softer class lights rose.

He staggered off Cardin's prone body and offered his hand. Cardin sat up and ignored it, staring darkly down at his feet. Jaune turned and busied himself with collecting his shield and reuniting it with his sword on his belt.

Cardin grit his teeth and twisted his face into a sour grimace. He glowered at the Arc boy as he fussed about with his equipment. A scrawny little whelp like that. He hated him more than ever. He reached to the side and collected his mace. The sucker's back was turned.

Jaune felt the pounding in his head subside ever so slightly, as he staggered toward his seat. He looked up at the audience who were either frantically taking notes, or talking excitedly amongst themselves.

His eyes automatically sought Weiss and saw her pretty face twisted with rage. He was about to ponder on it further, when she drew her sword. He threw himself to the side. A light blue glyph shot over his head and struck its target. Jaune looked up to see Winchester encased in ice up to the torso, his mace held overhead, mere steps away from where he'd just been. The blonde youth scrambled back and fell to the floor.

He panted hard and shot Weiss a grateful thumbs up.

"Mr. Winchester, that will be detention." Goodwitch's verdant eyes flared dangerously.

Weiss stalked down the aisle to where Jaune lay exhausted. Her light blue eyes blazed with barely restrained fury as they remained fixed on the half-finished ice sculpture. She offered her small hand to Jaune who clasped it firmly. Hoisting himself up, he cast one last wary glance at the surly gray hunter, and walked back to his seat, leaning on his smaller partner for support.

The caped professor's gaze followed the blonde and his white haired companion. "Take note of Mr. Arc's level response to a threat at a higher power level than his own. He kept clam and maintained situational awareness throughout the match, emerging the victor."

Jaune sank heavily onto the bench. The rest of the class passed by in a muddled haze. Cardin had been thawed and sent slouching to his desk. There were a few more exhibitions and Goodwitch gave some notes on the matches. He felt himself take down notes automatically, but the hellish throbbing in his left arm was preventing him from concentrating to any worthwhile degree. He needed an ice pack. He briefly considered asking Weiss to shoot him with one of her bolts.

"And that will be all for today. Monday, we're meeting in the locker rooms for mobile locker orientation. Don't forget the assignment for next Thursday. Those of you in my Wilderness Survival class, we're going to the Forever Fall forest in two weeks' time. Make sure you do the reading on the region. Familiarize yourselves with the flora, fauna, and bestiary for the area."

Jaune surfaced from his daze as students droned about. A steady stream of uniformed students shuffled up the corridor and out to the rain speckled streets of campus. He collected his belongings and made sure he didn't leave anything behind.

"Hey, I need to swing by the dorm before we go to the library. I need to get an ice pack from the fridge."

Weiss frowned at his left arm that he held close to his body. "Don't you think you should get that check out at the nurse's?"

Jaune smiled and shook his head. "No, I'll be fine. Just a bit of ice and rest, and I'll be right as rain."

Weiss wanted to protest further, but the professor's voice cut her off.

"Mr. Arc, may I see you for a moment?" The professional tone of their Aura instructor called from the far end of the room.

"Ah, yes Professor!" He shrugged his bag onto his right shoulder and walked down to the professor's desk. Weiss motioned for Ren and Nora to go on without them, and followed quietly after her partner.

They stood before the moderately sized desk. Goodwitch had busied herself with her Scroll, her glasses reflected the luminescent screen.

"May I see your Scroll for a moment?"

"Sure." Jaune handed over his Scroll. She connected it to her own and ran a program. Satisfied, she set it aside and laced her fingers. She peered at Jaune over the thin metal frame of her glasses.

"I was very impressed with your performance today. The both of you." She nodded at Weiss. "But I must stress, Mr. Arc." She fixed her piercing gaze at him. He suddenly felt as if he had no secrets. "That you exercise more caution the next time you decide to weigh the pros and cons of sacrificing your own body for attack advantage. Remember, people will be depending on you, and for you to become disabled or worse yet, killed during a hunt, could jeopardize lives." He swore she flicked her eyes over to Weiss, but he later chalked it up to his nerves and fatigue.

He squared his shoulders. "Yes ma'am."

The older woman nodded and picked up the joined Scrolls, disconnecting them.

"I was running a quick diagnostic. Picking up some debug logs from your Scroll to make sure everything is in working order. Nothing to worry about. You're dismissed. Don't forget the homework."

The pair nodded and left the classroom.

* * *

When they got back to their dorm, Ren and Nora were already waiting for them. Ren, with an ice pack and a smile, Nora, with a manic grin and excited giggles. As the four took turns changing into their school uniform, and Jaune dressed his swelling shoulder, Nora hopped excitedly about the room, recounting Jaune's fight.

"It looked like you were a goner back when he disarmed you. But then you ducked to the side and you got him, you really did!" She swung her fists in the air, fighting an invisible foe.

Jaune laughed. "Ah, it was dumb luck, is all. You guys were absolutely amazing though." He sat heavily on Weiss' bed, regarding his three teammates. "Ren, I could hardly keep up with your movements." The fuchsia eyed boy ducked his head. "And Nora, you've got some serious power packed away in those swings. I felt each one of them." Nora flushed and beamed. "And Weiss, dear heavens, the intensity of your attack, you really don't let up. By golly, that elemental whirlwind. It was a thing of beauty."

Weiss quickly turned to the full length mirror on her wardrobe, fixing the ribbon on her uniform. She looked at her partner through the mirror. "Q-quit it, lunkhead!"

The little group of friends laughed heartily.

"Hey, me n' Weiss are going to the library later today to polish off the Aura Studies essay, you guys wanna come along?" Weiss' hands froze. She stared intensely at her partner's reflection.

Ren shot a quick glance at the white haired heiress. "No thanks, Nora and I wanted to put in some time at the range. We were planning on doing the essay in our free period tomorrow anyhow."

Weiss puffed a small sigh and deftly pulled her ribbon tight.

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch closed the door to her office with a soft sigh. She'd just finished her last evening class, and she was ready for a well deserved break. She loved teaching, she really did, but sometimes it could be terribly exhausting. She fished her Scroll out of her pocket as she crossed her spacious office. She flipped through her files until she came to the one she had wanted all week.

Jaune Arc. And sometimes, it was a complete mystery.

He was a good student. She was pleased to note that he valued his grades about as much as Miss Schnee did. She idly wondered how much that was his own drive, and how much was the young heiress's influence. His combat skills were above average, with commendable reflexes and presence of mind. And were it not for the fact that he seemed to come from the middle of nowhere, she would have simply written him off as another normal hunter in training.

She sank heavily into her plush leather chair. She mounted her Scroll into her docking station and shifted her gaze over to a large panel television. The screen came to life and displayed Arc's profile. It showed his picture (she stifled a giggle), his date of birth, blood type, where he was from, his current team affiliation, his partner, and other miscellaneous information.

All of this was readily available to the faculty of the school. What she was really looking for was his biometrics. An individual's biometric data was a highly personal piece of information, and therefore, could not be put into the general record. Those were kept on the students' personal Scrolls in encrypted files. Currently, their only official use was monitoring Aura level, tracking students while on campus grounds, and ID locking the Scroll.

Her long fingers tapped away at a small holographic keyboard that appeared at a wave of her hand. A black command prompt opened in the upper corner of the screen, and a program populated the space with rapid instructions. It was a program of her own design, and of dubious legality. She saw the way Arc moved through the Emerald Forest, and how he'd tackled Port's tests. The brazen showmanship and general disregard for safety that most of the students enjoyed was missing in the swordsman. In addition, she had yet to see him use his Semblance that the other students had been quick to abuse.

Instead, he relied on careful analysis and quick thinking. He didn't attack until he had an opening, and when he did, he struck in the most efficient way possible. He avoided injury, even at the cost of prolonging the encounter, and used his shield with a level of skill that didn't sit well with her. His entire fighting style was centered around finishing the conflict as fast as possible It was no wonder Port sung the boy's praises.

"The boy's a refreshing throwback to the heyday of hunting. Back when it was about life and death, human against monster, not this spectator sport it has become today."

She leaned back in her chair and gazed into the stormy horizon. Ozpin had found the boy in a small village to the west. No formal training, no apprenticeship, no accolades. Just two young men and one test; only one would have the opportunity to move onto Beacon. She'd questioned Ozpin about why he insisted on going out to such far flung corners of the continent in search of hopefuls.

"Academic systems can only reach so many. As it is, there are whole sections of the continent that are inaccessible due to the quality of Grimm that infest them. By seeking these children out, we give them a chance to hone their craft that others have routinely denied them."

Fundamentally, she agreed, but she begrudged him for going alone. She would have liked to see some of these isolated villages.

A soft beeping drew her attention back to the screen. Her eyes shrank. She jerked forward with mild shock.

The display on the screen was completely blank.

Under normal circumstances, the program was supposed to project an ever shifting prismatic image. Based on a theory she'd developed, it was supposed to be as complete a visual representation of the human Aura as was possible given that the very nature of the thing was still hotly debated.

She didn't understand. She'd run the program hundreds of times on just as many volunteers. And this time, it came up blank. She shook herself out of the daze she'd fallen in, and ran the test again.

Same results.

She ran the test on herself and saw the prismatic starburst pattern that one day she would prove to be the very map of one's Aura. She ran the test until the dark stormy sky had turned black. Jaune Arc's Aura was completely silent. As if it was never there.

"Ozpin…. Yes, sorry to bother you this late, but…." She stared at the screen, transfixed by her findings. "I think we have an issue."

* * *

It had begun raining in earnest just as they finished lunch. Dark swells of rumbling rainclouds rolled across the horizon. Forks of lightning flashed ferociously in the distance. Their rapport arriving seconds after they'd blinked out of existence.

Weiss' heels clicked lightly against the wet pavement. She held her white umbrella against the dark gray sky and listened to the soft pitter patter of the rain against the portable tarp. She looked to her partner who walked freely in the open rain. His face was turned up to the sky, allowing the refreshing droplets to pelt his flushed face. His vivid blue eyes were misted over, seeing something far away in the past. The ends of his lips were quirked in a small smile. She regarded his shoulder, which was wrapped tightly in a reusable ice pack. She wanted to press him to go the nurse and have it properly evaluated, but he looked so at peace in the soft rain, that she chose to let it go for the time being.

They carefully mounted the slick steps to the large, stately library. Weiss' sharp eyes caught four identical pinstripe umbrellas huddled together at the top of the stairs.

"Like walking in the rain! And wishing on the stars up above, and being so in love…."

Team BSQT had taken to regaling the rain washed campus with some of their old time favorites. Sam, with a dapper figure, aquiline features, and auburn hair parted at the side, nodded at Jaune and Weiss as they passed. Janne waved back and Weiss rolled her eyes.

The library was decked out in sleepy gray tones. The tables, desks, and lofty bookshelves radiated the same quiet modernity that Jaune remembered in the ballroom during initiation. Small clusters of students crowded around the cool forest green slabs of stone that served as tabletops. Stone faced librarians loomed over long granite counters, waiting to check out books and note down the ruffians who had no respect for such a hallowed place of somber contemplation.

Weiss led the way to the back of the library. They picked up a pair of docking stations for their Scrolls on the way. The partners quietly passed students hunched over large tomes, popping back and forth between notebook and text. They settled down at a small table, only just big enough for two people to set facing one another. Jaune set his bag down and lit the modest table lamp. They set their notebooks on the mute green table and pulled up their essays on their Scrolls.

They worked in companionable silence, each buried in their own work. From time to time, one would ask the other their opinion on one idea or another.

"Hey, Weiss, what do you make of the Holtz Theory of Semblance?"

She perked up at the mention of that particular theory. "Oh, I make use of that one all the time when I'm casting my glyphs. You need a focus. It could be an image, a phrase, something int eh world, anything that helps you trigger your Semblance. People find those naturally at an early age."

"I see." He understood the concept, but could only relate by what Slade had told him. "What's yours?"

"Mine is the glyph I need to cast at the time. I channel it through my sword like Professor Goodwitch does with her crop. The more complex the glyph, the more strain it puts on my Aura. That's all the theory is really saying. The more complex the focus, the higher the drain. A focus in the world takes less Aura than something you have to visualize because it's already fully rendered in reality.

"You don't really have to worry about the numbers and formulas to calculate it all unless you want to go into research."

Jaune nodded pensively. "Hm. I think I've got it. Thanks."

"L-let me give you another example." Weiss fidgeted slightly. "Take Pyrrha. Her Semblance is magnetism, polarity. So, all she has to do is look at something that's magnetic, and, sort of, push it. She can do this all day, because she doesn't need to visualize it in her head like I do."

Jaune's eyes brightened in understanding. "Appreciate it, partner."

"Mhmm."

They lapsed back into silence. Jaune put the finishing touches on his Aura Studies essay and moved onto the reading for Wilderness Studies. They were going to go collect sap from the unique trees that grew there, and they needed to read up on three of its most common uses.

Every once and again Weiss' eyes would flick up to her partner. Any minute now. Weiss' stomach flip flopped. She tried to push the feeling away with little success.

Jaune stretched his left arm out across the table and grazed Weiss' elbow. He leaned over from his reading. He caught sight of her dainty arm. The black sleeve of her uniform jacket made her already slender appendage look even thinner.

His eyes moved up to her face. Her head was bowed over a textbook she'd found in the stacks. He tried to read the upside down article, but couldn't figure out what it was about. He glanced at a wall clock and figured it was as good a time as any for a break.

"Hey, Weiss."

She licked her lips and looked up. "Yes?"

Her default little frown sat comfortably on her face. This was something Jaune was trying to change ever since they'd become partners.

"Weiss, can you do me a teeny weeny little favor?"

"What is it?" Oh, here it comes.

"Smile." She rolled her eyes. He tried this all the time; a dumb joke here, a goofy face there. He never gave up.

"This again? I applaud your perseverance, Jaune, but the answer is no."

Jaune smiled at her and leant forward a bit. "Smile."

A soft flush appeared on her pale cheeks. "No!"

"Smile. Smile, Weiss." He reached forward and tried to poke her nose.

She swatted his hand away. "Jaune, stop it! Finish your homework."

"I'm already done. I'm just waiting for you now." He lashed his hand out and tweaked her nose. "Aha! I got your nose. Now smile, or I won't give it back."

Her flush deepened. She scowled at the young man in front of her. "You do not have my nose. Now end this silliness at once. I will not smile!" She folded her arms in a huff and looked away.

Jaune imitated Kia's best kitten pout. He stuck out his bottom lip, and pawed at her with his fist. "Pweeze? Smile."

Weiss made the mistake of glancing back to see what his next idiotic tactic would be. She grit her teeth and snarled. "I have to go find a book. Excuse me."

She sprung up from her seat and stomped off in a random direction. Jaune's muffled laughter danced after her. She wheeled around a shelf and pressed her back to the shelf. She took deep, gasping breaths. Her cheeks became rosy, her eyes, bright and sparkling. A tickle fizzled in the pit of her stomach. She tried to will it away, but it grew and swelled up through her throat. Her arms went to her sides as she felt herself crumble. Her pursed lips parted into a shimmering smile; then, a hiccup, and soon after, a broken giggle tumbled out of her mouth. Within moments she was giggling quietly to herself, her shoulders rolling with each rumble of mirth.

"See? Now was that so hard?"

"Nya!" Weiss whirled around to see Pyrrha leaning against a parallel bookshelf.

"You really do have a beautiful smile, though."

Weiss rushed up to the redhead and slapped her hand over the amazon's mouth.

"Quiet!" she hissed. She released her redheaded friend and made sure no one else was looking. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Pyrrha smiled. "Well, Ruby and I were working on our project, and we needed a book, and I just happened to wander by." She tried to look as innocent as possible.

Weiss wasn't buying it. "You came here to torment me, didn't you?" She crossed her arms.

Pyrrha adopted a hurt expression. "Weiss, you injure me. Do you mean to suggest that I, your dear friend for years now, would ever mean to do you harm?" Weiss narrowed her eyes at the green eyed girl. "Besides, we haven't had the chance to properly catch up. You're generally so quiet during meals that I didn't want to disturb you." She clasped her hands for an extra dose of innocence. "And I wanted to apologize for embarrassing you at breakfast earlier."

Weiss sighed in resignation. "Okay, okay, you win." She moved into one of the stacks and perched herself against the tall bookcase. Pyrrha followed closely.

"So, how was your summer?" No use rushing things, Pyrrha thought. She hadn't seen Weiss over the summer, so she was curious how she'd occupied herself.

Weiss shrugged. "It was fine. I didn't go anywhere this time around. So, between packing for school and avoiding the servants, I read through the transcripts for Professor Port's entire lecture series."

Pyrrha smiled softly. "I was thinking about you when I was looking over the brochure for Beacon. I knew you'd jump at the chance to study under such a renowned hunter. You would always go on and on about his methods and his accomplishments." She idly traced the spine of a book that had caught her eye. "Well? Did he measure up to the legend his books had made him out to be?"

Weiss smiled slightly. Pyrrha wished she could see it more often.

"Well, not exactly. But he's still got some amazing ideas about group tactics." She'd worked herself into a rapid ramble. "And his stories are just as vivid as in his audiobooks. I thought he'd be taller, but that's okay. He a lower stance gives you more stability and control anyway."

Pyrrha giggled at her friend's excitement. Weiss was a strange creature once you'd traversed her substantial walls. Pyrrha sobered and remembered her ulterior motive.

"How's Jaune? I overheard some students talking about his match today. Did he get hurt?" Her eyes shone with genuine concern for the gentle swordsman.

The pair wandered down the end of the row, and Weiss peered over the edge. Jaune was stretched out on the table, dozing.

She leaned back against the shelf and sighed. "He insists that he's fine, but I saw the way his arm twisted when that brute hit it. It looked pretty broken to me." She frowned at the deep gray carpeting. "I keep meaning to have him go to the nurse, but he keeps distracting me."

Pyrrha's eyes sparkled. This was what she was waiting for. She knew there was a reason the two would steal away to the library every day. Even the most studious student took a break every now and again.

"He distracted you, did he?"

Weiss colored prettily and sputtered, waving her hands wildly. "It's not at all what you think!" She crossed her arms in a huff. "It's just that sometimes we'd get to talking about schoolwork, and time would get away from me."

"Is that so?" Pyrrha took a near predatory step forward. "So, the two of you get carried away with your conversations?" Her emerald eyes sparkled impishly.

Weiss squirmed. "Y-you're horrible. He just asks me a question, and I go off for a while. He mostly just sits and listens."

"What else do you do?" She remembered the way the young swordsman had looked at Weiss when they first met. He had looked so adorably stunned. She'd seen him steal glances at her ever since.

"Nothing!" hissed Weiss, vexed. "He's got this stupid idea in his head to try and make me laugh. He's been doing it for weeks now, and it drives me up a wall."

The young amazon applauded the blonde swordsman. He was on the right track with her powder white friend. "Well, it looks like he succeeded."

Weiss stomped her foot not unlike a child. Pyrrha found it unendingly endearing. "He did not!" She pouted and looked down at her feet.

"It certainly looked like it did when I found you." Pyrrha stepped up to her longtime friend and lifted her chin with a finger. "You looked like you were having the time of your life back there. Weiss, I've never seen you laugh so much."

The smaller girl averted her eyes. "It was just one time." She was lying.

"Oh? And what's to say there shouldn't be any more in the future?" Weiss stared hard at Pyrrha's boots. "You know." She bent down to meet the young huntress's cool blue eyes. "I don't have to be your only friend."

She straightened up and released the smaller girl. The heiress looked down at the ground, mute.

Pyrrha leant over and peeked at the snoozing knight. "He's quite harmless. Think about it, won't you?"

With that, the strongly built girl walked away, leaving a pensive Weiss behind. She peeked over at her partner with a troubled expression. Sighing, she quietly walked back to their desk and sat lightly in her chair. She put her things away and, not having much else to do, took Jaune's work and gave it a once over. Satisfied, she put his things away as well. When she was finished she folded her hands on her lap with a quiet huff. Her icy gaze fixed on her sleeping… acquaintance. She silently chewed on the advice her first friend had given her.

A quiet voice that she'd been careful never to fully squash piped up. It told her that it couldn't hurt. He'd spent time with her when she'd squirreled herself away in the library. He was affectionate with Nora and Ruby. And he wanted to make her smile. He didn't seem anything like—

She shook her head. She refused to think about it further.

Her eyes drifted to the bulge around jaune's left shoulder, the ice pack no doubt. An idea came to her. She groped around in her bag for a small black book and undid the silver metal clasp. Flipping through the pages, she came to the image that she wanted. Concentrating, her sharp blue eye roamed over the pattern, committing every detail to memory. She replaced her book and held her hand out over her partner's injured shoulder. She closed her eyes and traced the glyph in her mind's eye. She felt a cold energy blossom in her hand, confirmation that her spell had worked. She guided it into his arm. It wouldn't heal him, but it would numb the pain for quite some time. It was dark and stormy outside the long window, and Weiss felt exhausted from the day's events. She resumed her vigil, and somewhere between observing her partner's golden hair and content smile she, too, began to doze.

* * *

Thoughts, folks? Chapter four on the way.


	4. Chapter 4

If I owned RWBY, you'd be watching this instead of reading it.

* * *

"Man, this is a really stupid idea."

"Would you just shut up and watch the door, Russell?"

The green haired youth listened at the door with a troubled expression.

The high windows of the labyrinthine locker room cast long, creeping shadows across the tiled floor. The amber lampposts outside were the only source of light the skulking students could use at this hour.

The looming form of Cardin Winchester lurched through the gloomy shadows, his face illuminated by the ghostly backlight of his Scroll.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Why didn't you just scope it out when it was light out?"

"Shut up, Dove."

Cardin and his cadre turned a corner, sweeping their Scrolls over the locker numbers for the one they woke up at three in the morning to sabotage. Cardin and Dove each took a side of the aisle. Lark stood guard.

"These numbers make no sense. How can they go from 781 to 469 just like that?"

"Hey, I think I found it!" Dove's hiss slunk throughout the room.

Cardin stomped over and swept his Scroll over the locker in question. It was five-two-five. His face morphed into a devilish sneer.

"Yeah, this is it." He connected a wire from his Scroll to a port on the locker. He swept his hand across the screen and activated a program.

"So, what's this thing supposed to do again?" Dove's sandy hair hung in a shaggy mop in front of his eyes.

Cardin entered a few parameters and engaged the program. "I got this from some kid a few days ago. These are rocket lockers. These suckers will go near anywhere if they have the right coordinates. I'm just making sure this one goes somewhere specific."

Dove peered at the program, not at all understanding why he had to get up at three in the morning just for this one little thing. Five-two-five, that was that Arc kid's locker. Lately, Cardin got a real sour look whenever he'd see the guy.

"Dude, you sure you're not taking this a bit too far? I mean, yeah he thrashed you pretty hard in class." Cardin gave him a dark look. "And his girl totally had his back too. But dude, you could seriously hurt the guy."

Cardin looked at him blankly. "And?" He turned back to his work. Dove felt a chill run down his spine.

Winchester's dark eyes blazed in the glow of his Scroll. His mouth curled into a malevolent smirk as the program rerouted safety protocols and hacked in specific coordinates for the guidance systems to follow.

* * *

Ozpin stared out the window of his office as he sipped his coffee. He closed his eyes as the hot liquid slid over his tongue and down his throat. There was nothing like the first cup of the day. The sharp flavor of his own personal blend of coffee woke his spirit as much as it did his body. He took a deep breath, taking the woody aroma into his lungs, basking in the hot beverage. The steam gently rose and licked his cheeks. Serenity.

There was a sharp knock on his door. He sighed and looked at the clock, eight thirty.

"Come in." He turned and sat at his spacious desk, setting down his mug reverently.

Glynda strode in, her eyes bright with excitement. Ozpin quirked an eyebrow and took a sip.

"Professor Goodwtich. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Look at this." She thrust a folder onto his desk. He set his cup down and flipped through the file.

He read through the collected information. There were statistics on the boy's fighting style, mostly comments from Professor Port, his grades on written work, tests, and other miscellaneous information. His eyes slowed as they took in the empty space where he was sure a diagram should have been. His eyes scrutinized the readout below. As he finished reading the last page he pushed the folder toward the Aura specialist, and leant back in his chair. His dark eyes looked at something in the far distance of the bright morning sky.

"You could get into a lot of trouble if word gets out that you used that program on a first year. You know they're not allowed to take part in research until they're eighteen." He focused his gaze on Goodwitch, who had sat, legs crossed, on the chair in front of him.

"And I could revolutionize the academic community if I could just find out more about his condition. How it happened. What it means for him now. If he's more or less susceptible to the Gri—"

"Glynda." Ozpin met her fervent gaze steadily. "Think about what you're about to say very carefully. And then think about the setting we're in. The society."

Her agitated expression softened. She sighed loudly. "I'm sorry. You're right. I won't get carried away, I promise."

Ozpin laced his fingers and silently interrogated the file in front of him.

"You're sure you're not mistaken about the readings."

"I ran them hundreds of times. I even recompiled the program from scratch. It's the same every time."

Ozpin took a sip from his now lukewarm cup of coffee. He didn't like when his coffee got cold. It didn't taste nearly as good.

"What do you propose to do? He is still a student in a school filled with heavily armed teenagers. Singling him out would be unwise."

"I don't know. Something like this has never happened in the history of the world." There was an almost giddy quiver in her voice. "Have you come across anything like this in your travels?"

He shook his head. Ozpin rose from his seat and went to the window. He looked down at the bustling students. His eye caught on a shock of white hair. Not far from it was a mop of blonde, belonging to the very student they were discussing. He was gesturing wildly as he recounted some tale. His companion sported an amused expression as she listened patiently.

"Observe for now. Take careful notes and come to me if you find anything noteworthy. We don't yet know if there is any cause for serious alarm, and until then, there's no reason for undue agitation."

The blonde held the door of the hall open for the white haired girl, and they disappeared from view.

* * *

"And there were, like, fifteen of them. And you and Lady Weiss were there, and me n'Ren were there. We killed them all and made a fortune off selling the rugs."

It was Jaune's turn to hear Nora's strange recurring dreams. This one was one of the more pleasant ones. Others have had her nearly in tears, clinging to someone's arm, typically because they'd perished during her encounter.

"Was that it?" Jaune liked to entertain her thoughts when she recounted one of her happier dreams. Her face would light up, and she'd break out into a brilliant smile that he'd find himself mirroring for most of the day afterwards.

Her cheeks flushed with excitement. "I'm glad you asked, good Sir. Jaune. It just so happens that there was a time skip and you and Lady Weiss had held a great banquet and Ren and I were there. And we had pancakes! Oh, there were all kinds of pancakes; blueberry and chocolate and banana and strawberry! Oh, and you had two kids. They were cute!"

Weiss, who was absently listening in, nearly spat out her mouthful of mashed potato.

Jaune gently pat her on the back as she struggled to regain control of her esophagus.

Ren's lips quirked into a small smile.

"And this is one of your recurring ones?"

Nora nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I have it on the weekends, mostly. It's one of my favorites. I can almost taste the pancakes!"

Jaune turned his attention back to his criminally overdressed lunch sandwich. Weiss' mind went numb just by looking at it. He took a hearty bite and chewed thoughtfully. His eyes roamed the lunchroom. Students were milling about, chatting amicably amongst their little groups. His eyes fell to a far corner where a brown haired bunny girl was fidgeting nervously. A large hulking mass was stomping toward her from the other side of the room.

Winchester.

Jaune watched as the girl tried to shrink away from the towering brute, but he'd caught her. His brows knitted in anger. Cardin had taken hold of the girl's ears, pulling and twisting them in painful ways. He could see shining tears well up in the whimpering girl's soft brown eyes.

He thought of someone treating his kitten that way. He clenched his fists. He couldn't let it happen.

"Weiss." He leant over to his partner. "Watch my back."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Bad guys doing bad things." He jerked his head toward Cardin and the unfortunate bunny girl.

Weiss looked over and narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you want to go out of your way to get involved with that guy?"

Jaune rose from his sear. "Hey, he hates me anyway, may as well give him a real reason."

The blonde swordsman marched over to the bunny girl's table. He could hear Cardin's taunts as he neared.

"Hey, these feel pretty good once you give 'em a good squeeze."

The girl cried out just as jaune reached them. He wrenched Winchester's large hands off the poor girl's ears and shoved him away. He could feel Weiss' eyes following him.

"Hey, leave her alone."

The thuggish boy scowled. "Well, what's it to you, butthead." He shoved back.

Jaune stood his ground. "What's your problem man? Do you just have a constant stick up your ass or what?"

A dark scowl crossed Cardin's face as he looked down at the defiant knight. Oh, how he wanted to pound the little twerp into the ground right here and now in front of the entire lunchroom population, no weapons, no armor, just a good old fashioned fist fight. Then he caught sight of a prefect frowning at them.

He sneered, backing off. "Yeah, alright. You can have your little furry. But you and I aren't done yet." He poked his finger into Jaune's chest.

Jaune let out a slow breath as Winchester skulked away. For a second he was sure it was going to come to blows. He turned to the frightened bunny girl. He bent down and gently scratched her behind her throbbing ears. It had always made Kia feel better when she was upset.

"Hey, now, you're alright. He's gone."

She looked up at him with watery eyes. "T-thank you."

He gave her an easy smile. "Hey, there. I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. What's your name?"

"V-Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina."

"You shouldn't sit all by yourself. Where's the rest of your team?"

"T-they, uh, don't have the same lunch as I do." Her eyes darted from side to side.

Jaune grimaced. He scanned the area around him. Three students sitting at the far end of the table averted their gaze. "Come on. You'll sit with us." His voice was firm and left no room for argument.

He took her by the arm and guided her back to his table. He sat her down next to Ruby, who happily offered her cookies. Jaune sunk down next to Weiss with a satisfied smile. He was pleased to see Ruby and Yang chat with the skittish bunny eared girl.

As the small group settled back into their lunch, Velvet would send grateful looks to her savior every time she could catch his eye. He'd smile back, and the girl would lose her courage, blush, and hide behind her large fluffy ears. This did not go unnoticed by the sharp eyed Schnee heiress. Her neutral little frown deepened ever so slightly. She gripped her fork and ate stiffly.

* * *

Jaune dodged the right hook and caught the left. He twisted the arm and threw his opponent to the ground. He kicked the shoulder as the student tried to get back to their feet, sending them back to the ground. Jaune smirked and put some distance between them. He dropped into a low stance.

His opponent staggered to their feet and flew at him with a wild drop kick. He pivoted out of the way and slammed his elbow into their back, following through with a heavy left hook to the back of the head. The student lurched forward and stumbled several feet. He fell down on one knee. Jaune waited for his sparring partner to regain their bearings.

When he had, Jaune dashed forward and fell into a side just as his opponent delivered a high right hook. He swept their legs out, and, as they fell, rose to a roundhouse kick to the face. The student crumpled to the ground. Jaune steadied himself and pressed his foot to their neck. The student tapped out.

Jaune released the struggling student and offered his hand.

"Good match, friend."

The anonymous student coughed as he staggered to his feet. "And to you." His voice was like gravel.

Jaune nodded and stepped off the sparring mat. After their mobile locker orientation, Professor Goodwitch had allowed them to have a free period in the school's main gym.

While Ren and Nora had opted for more target practice, he and Weiss went to the sparring mats. He sat down next to his companion, who was polishing her sword to a mirror shine. She'd been using the sparring dummies. Jaune picked up his towel and wiped his face down.

"That will be all for today, class. Remember, we're going into the Forever Fall forest Thursday of next week. We're meeting at the helipad, so don't be late or you will be left behind with a makeup assignment."

The pair rose and walked to the lockers.

"You're pretty good with hand to hand. The professor was watching you." Weiss regarded him evenly with her sidelong gaze.

Jaune looked around for the bespectacled professor but found that she'd left already. "Was she, now…." He shrugged. "My trainer, Slade, was big on it so I didn't have much choice. At the time I didn't know why I'd need it for hunting Grimm, but it keeps the mind and body in sync."

"Hmm…. It'll be an advantage if you enter the Vale tournament."

"Tournament?" He hadn't been paying much attention to the goings on of Vale, the port city at the foot of the mountain where Beacon stood.

Weiss frowned at him. "Don't you read the paper? I get it so we can stay informed, you know. Not so you and Nora can have paper plane competitions."

"It was pretty sweet when I caught some serious air time with the funny pages."

She swatted his arm. "Lunkhead."

Jaune laughed as they entered the locker room. They split to freshen up in their own respective areas. One hot shower and big fluffy towel later, Jaune ambled over to his locker, whistling a jazzy tune. He felt like relaxing a bit, so he went for a longer shower than usual. The students had filed out by then, so he was reasonably sure he was alone.

As he turned the corner he found Weiss perched on the bench filing her nails. Their eyes met. Then, hers drifted down to what he was wearing, or rather, what he wasn't. Her winter blue eyes widened, and her snow white face became cherry red. She whipped around so fast that her ponytail lashed out and flung itself over the opposite shoulder.

"J-jeez, what are you doing? Why didn't you get dressed in the shower?"

Jaune smiled languidly. "And just what brings you to the boy's locker room, Miss Schnee?"

"Y-you took too long so I came in to see if that brute had gotten a hold of you. Besides, it's getting late, look." She pointed a quivering finger to the high windows that streamed in the soft golden glow of the afternoon sun.

Jaune couldn't resist just one more. He silently padded forward and bent over just behind the young girl's ear. "As you wish." He blew lightly into her ear.

Weiss squeaked and leapt to her feet. She spun around and smacked him across the head.

"What do you think you're doing?! Just get dressed already!"

He could practically see the steam rising from her ears. Satisfied that he'd harassed his partner enough for one day, he collected his clothes and went to a vacant row of lockers to change. He put on his school uniform, leaving his tie for Weiss to secure as only she could. He'd tried to do it himself several times now, and each time he came closer and closer to strangling himself.

He rounded the corner again, this time sporting his uniform instead of a mere towel. He slung his tie around his neck as he punched in his locker code. The door opened with a hiss. There wasn't anything in it, really. The professor had said that it would be better served for those who carried particular types of ammunition and might need a spare loadout while on assignment. Jaune had stashed a length of rope, climbing picks he'd picked up from a student run flea market, and some medical herbs, just in case.

Weiss walked over and peered into his locker. "That's all you've got?"

He turned to her. "It's all I need; medicine and climbing gear. What do you have in yours?"

She gave him a blank look.

Dust. "Right, stupid question."

"Mmhmmm." She stepped forward and took his tie in her hands. He tossed his armor and sword on the bench and turned to her more fully so she could work. He saw that her face was still pink from his earlier torment. He felt bad for putting her on the spot like that. Living with Slade for so long had nurtured in him a mischievous streak that he couldn't always control.

"Hey, Weiss, listen I'm sorry if I went too far earlier. I can get carried away sometimes, and, I'm sorry."

She didn't immediately respond, preferring instead to fasten his tie with fluid movements. When she was done she swatted his chest lightly. "There. We're even."

"Heh, thanks partner." Her icicle tiara twinkled up at him. He considered patting her on the head like he would Nora or Ruby, but he figured he'd pushed his luck enough for one day.

Before ether of them could utter another word, rough hands shoved them together and pushed them into the open locker. Jaune's arms instinctively circled Weiss' waist, as her hands gripped his jacket. Surprised by the sudden action, all they could register was a shock of forest green hair before the door shut with a snap. The lock engaged with a click and the locker began to rumble.

The rocket lurched upward. A strong downward force crushed their bodies together. The quaking and rattling rocked through the stunned pair as they were each stuffed flush against the metal walls of the mobile coffin. Jaune worked one hand up from her waist to the back of her head, pressing it to his chest.

"J-Jaune! What's going on!?" Weiss succeeded in screaming over the rocket fuel that screeched through the air.

"I have no idea!"

The angle of their ascent suddenly leveled. Jaune's head slammed into the ceiling of the locker. Bright stars exploded in his vision. He felt a violent wave of vertigo and nausea. The roar of the rocket refused to allow either of them to think clearly. All they could do as they shot through the afternoon sky was cling desperately to one another.

* * *

Lie Ren leant against a window overlooking the campus. Students hustled about, heading to afternoon classes or an early dinner. He sighed and checked his Scroll for the time. Where were they? He turned around, sweeping his eyes over the entrance to the locker rooms. A few students walked past, chatting about idle things. He'd sent Nora to the girls' wing to collect Weiss, and she hadn't come back either.

He was about to go inside and find Jaune himself when a green haired boy with punkish tufts of hair rushed out of the lockers. He was mumbling to himself frantically and darting his eyes about. As he jerked past, Ren picked up a snatch of his ramblings.

"Stupid… gonna get expelled…."

He frowned. He watched the boy break into a near run down the corridor and turn a corner. He looked vaguely familiar. Ren searched his memory. He didn't have to think long, as there were so few who would willingly walk around as if a five year old had taken a pair of scissors to their head. He was part of Winchester's group.

He cursed under his breath and ran for the lockers. They'd been out for Jaune's blood for a long time now and an empty locker room with no witnesses was far too tempting an opportunity. He made a beeline for locker five-two-five. He turned the corner and felt a chill rush up his spine.

On the bench sat Myrtenaster gleaming brightly in the artificial light. Next to it was Jaune's plate armor and his sword shield combo. They were unarmed. Wherever they were, they were unarmed. He looked up to find the locker itself was gone. A small readout next to it flashed a red LAUNCHED sign.

He fired off a quick text to Nora, collected his friends' gear, and ran as fast as he could for the professors' offices.

His partner matched pace with him in minutes.

"Tell me you found Weiss." He pumped his legs as hard as he could.

Nora shook her head. Her usual sunny smile had fallen into a stony frown. Her light blue eyes were hard with menace. "I went in to get her but she wasn't at her locker. She must have left before I got there."

"I found her sword with Jaune's armor. They were together, but Jaune's locker had been launched. That can only mean that they're out there in the wilderness somewhere without anything to defend themselves." He cursed under his breath. "This has Winchester written all over it."

They turned a corner and barged into the first office they could find. Professor Port tumbled off his chair and staggered to his feet, blunderbaxe ready to cleave.

"Come for more have you, vile beast!? I'll have your head!"

Ren doubled over, gasping for breath. "No! No, professor, it's us."

"Oh, students!" He shouldered his weapon. "What strife brings you to my door? Speak, child, that I may assist thee." He thrust his axe aloft with a flourish.

"Jaune's mobile locker has been launched, we think someone shoved him and Weiss into his locker and launched them." Ren didn't waste any time.

"Why, that's ingenious. Always thinking, those two. But whatever makes you think they'd been had by ruffians?"

"We found their weapons abandoned on the ground."

"Dear heavens, that's horrible!" Port moved with surprising agility for one his age and girth. "Come children, while there's still light out. If we're lucky, we can follow the rocket's exhaust trail"

* * *

Jaune regained consciousness slowly. First, he registered a burrowing pain in his head like a colony of fire ants had decided that his skull would make the perfect nest. Then, he felt an immense weight on his chest and legs. Finally, he found it incredibly stifling and hard to breath with a mouthful of lavender scented—he rolled his tongue over it—hair.

He couldn't see. Whether it was because it was dark where he was, or because he'd gone blind, he wasn't quite comfortable exploring. He felt his hand wrapped securely around something hard, round, and warm. A head. Weiss' head.

"Weiss," He croaked. He received a soft moan in response. "Come on, Weiss. Wake up." He stroked her hair in an attempt to rouse her from her sleep.

She shifted slightly. "Jaune?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Are we dead again?"

His head felt like someone was putting an axe through it. Slowly. "I don't think so. Not this time." Fuzzy memories began to surface. He remembered Weiss working on his tie, and then a pair of hands shoving them into a locker. His locker. "But we're definitely in a metal coffin. Weiss, we're in my locker."

She groaned softly. He could feel her hot breath against his chest. "I think there should be some sort of lock release on the inside. Try to find it, I can't move my hands."

He wormed his hand across Weiss' back, hoping to reach the emergency release.

"Ah! That tickles."

"Sorry, I'm trying to get to the… aha, there it is." He pulled a latch and the door popped out of its frame with a jolt.

Bright light flooded the small compartment. A lance of pure fire burned through Jaune's eyes, and the axe that'd been lodged in the back of his head was now on fire. Weiss raised her head, peering down at Jaune. He squinted up at her, his hand still firmly planted behind her head. They held each other's gaze as the soft sounds of the wilderness filtered into the small capsule.

Minutes passed. Jaune hadn't noticed how his partner's eyes seemed to sparkle at the right angle. Before he could investigate further, a look of surprise crossed Weiss' soft features. She broke eye contact and looked down at their position. Blushing heavily she squeaked and scrambled to her feet. Jaune's face colored as he strongly reminded himself to keep his eyes firmly fixed on her face. She caught herself on the edge of the locker and fell to the ground in a heap.

The young blonde took a moment to breathe in the cool autumn air. It eased some of the pain in his head. However, the relief allowed his back to vocalize its own protest in the form of painful stabs. The rope and climbing picks pressed into his back at incredibly uncomfortable angles. He growled and heaved himself out of the most recent metal contraption that had tried to kill him.

He looked down to see his young companion nursing her left foot gingerly. He bent down and gently took a hold of her foot.

She flinched. "Ah! It hurts. I think it's broken."

He smiled at her and squeezed her milky leg in reassurance. "I'm sure it's not broken. You probably just strained it because you moved too fast." She pouted at him. "Come on, can you stand?" He took her hand and lifted her up. She gently put pressure on the injured foot and winced. She bit her lip and tried to take a step anyway, but fell into her partner's chest.

"N-no. I don't think I can." She leaned heavily into him. He smelled of pine, with just the barest hint of the minty soap he'd used to freshen up.

They'd crashed into a thick wood. The glaring blaze of the afternoon sun washed over the dark trees, casting them as living embers. The pair slowly turned, looking for any discernable landmarks. There were none. Jaune looked up at the sky and reckoned for north.

"You wouldn't happen to have any idea which way we… propelled ourselves, would you?" He gently sat the girl down on the ground against a tree. She adjusted her plaid skirt and drew her legs to her chest.

She shook her head and sighed. "No idea. Let's see, Beacon is at the top of a mountain, so maybe we should head that way." She pointed in between a cluster of trees to the light lavender silhouette of a large mountain top.

Jaune squinted at it. "Well, it's as good a direction as any. Jeez, we're far away." He knelt down. "Stay here, okay? I'm gonna fish out what I can from my locker and we'll get going."

She gave him a wry look. "Where am I going to go, Jaune?" She wiggled her foot.

He smiled sheepishly. "Ah, right. Be back in a bit."

He jogged over to his fallen locker and examined the worthless piece of junk. Honestly, who put rocket fuel in a locker? Regardless, it was fairly well trashed. Heavy dents, dings, and scrapes adorned the once pristine brushed metal siding. He reached inside and pocketed his medical pouch, wound the rope around his body, and fastened the picks to a spare end of the rope. He walked over to his fallen friend and knelt down next to her.

"Climb on, partner." He jabbed his thumb over his back.

Weiss colored prettily. "W-what? Absolutely not! I-I'll manage, Jaune, really. Just get me a stick or something."

He turned to her and gripped her shoulders. She squeaked and flinched at his sudden touch. "Don't be a lunkhead. We won't cover any ground with your leg like that. Now, climb on." He smiled. "Think of it as a piggyback ride."

She grumbled as she gripped Jaune's broad shoulders and hooked her legs about his sides. She blushed slightly as he stood. She could feel his back muscles contorting against her chest.

"Alright. See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" He took a few tentative steps. "Gee, you're a lot lighter than I expected."

She swatted his shoulder. "Jerk." She could feel the rumble of his laughter vibrate through his back. She felt a pleasant tingle run down her spine.

The two companions set off at a northwesterly heading. Jaune expertly weaved through clusters of trees, avoiding roots and fallen branches. Weiss was silently impressed by his affinity for traversal.

They walked in silence; the only sounds between the two were the soft sigh of the leaves and the twinkling twittering of birds. Weiss' eyes grew heavy with the rhythmic motions of Jaune's body gently rocking her to sleep. Her arms gripped loosely around his chest. Sensing that she was falling asleep, Jaune hooked his hands under her knees to give her support.

Weiss' mind drowsily drifted back into the past. She wondered, as her head gently rested on her partner's shoulder, when the last time was that she'd been carried this way. Her mind reached back as far as it could. She saw long drafty windows and billowing white curtains. She saw a looming, dark armchair behind an immense black desk. A face obscured by shadow. She approached it cautiously. It fixed its bloodshot gaze on her.

She awoke with a jolt.

Jaune stopped and looked up at her. "What is it?"

"N-nothing. Just a bad dream."

He nodded but didn't move on.

"What is it?" She was becoming nervous.

"Shhh, I heard something."

He turned his head slowly, scanning the area. The fierce golden sunlight had dimmed, leaving a sinking copper coin in its wake. The trees' shadows, long dark fingers as they were, lengthened and deepened ever still. And the birds had stopped chirping. Spotting something, he reached up and squeezed her shoulder.

She scanned the area as well, her earlier fatigue, gone. He pointed off in the distance and her eyes followed. There, several paces off, was the unmistakable black coat of an Ursa; the deranged cross between a bear, a porcupine, and an unholy demon. Its jagged spines glared menacingly in the soft evening light.

The beast raised its head and sniffed at the air. Its growl carried through the trees and into the young hunters' ears. Jaune stiffened. Weiss gripped as hard as she could. Ursa had an amazing sense of smell for human meat.

Jaune bolted in the other direction. He leapt over roots, kicked off boulders, and ducked under low hanging branches. Weiss' grip increased tenfold, he found it hard to breathe.

"Weiss!" He veered around a large tree.

"What!?" She concentrated on a glyph and channeled it into her hand.

"Use your Air Step and go get help." He vaulted over a rotting tree.

The Ursa was gaining on them, barreling through thick tree trunks like paper. Weiss shot a rapid volley of fist sized icicles at its skull. They only served to spur it on, "Are you insane? I am not leaving you here all alone." Her knees dug into his sides painfully.

Jaune put on a burst of speed, his legs burned from the exertion. He weaved around trees and fauna, ducking left, cutting right; anything to confuse the two ton monstrosity at their heels. Branches lashed across his face as he ran, leaving burning scratches in their wake.

He needed a plan. That thing wouldn't stop until it was chewing one or both of them in its ghastly maw. He remembered the comfortable weight on his back. He also needed to get Weiss away from danger. If she used up all of her Aura now, she wouldn't have enough to protect herself later. The climbing picks clattered against his thighs.

He considered tossing Weiss off his back and going at the beast with everything he had, which, admittedly, wasn't much. He quickly discarded the idea. There was strength in numbers, and that white haired angel was every bit a hunter as he was.

"Weiss, we have to go at that thing! It isn't going to stop, and I can't keep running forever!" He unclipped the picks and gripped them tightly.

Her grip on his chest increased. He could feel her tremble slightly. "A-alright. Alright, what's the plan?"

The axe in his head picked about then to drive itself a few more inches into his skull. He growled in frustration. "I haven't got one. We'll just have to wing it."

He whirled about and ran full tilt at the lunging beast. He could dimly hear Weiss shriek through the throbbing in his head. He readied his picks and kept his eyes on the monster's claws. Ursa primarily fought with large sweeping swipes of their massive meaty mitts.

As he neared, the creature roared. Its breath reeked of rotting flesh. Jaune could see Weiss' icicles pelt it from overhead. He gave his picks a quick spin and ran at a slant. A paw came down at him. He side stepped, and slashed the wrist with a pick.

It didn't do much damage.

Another came at his head. Weiss ducked down just as the claw swept overhead. She flung her hand out and cast a glyph. Jaune, on a whim, rushed through it and found himself being propelled through the air at incalculable speeds. He swung wildly with his picks and caught the bearlike Grmm on the side of the head. He sailed over its body and landed on the ground with a stumble.

He looked back at the reeling creature. Landing on its back would have been a horrible idea. Those were razor sharp bone fragments.

He glanced up at his partner. His bright blue eyes twinkled. "Weiss, m'dear, whatever that was, I think it worked. Think you could do it again?"

She nodded and cast another stationary glyph in front of the blonde. He threw himself through it with a whoop, and flung headlong for the back of the Ursa's head. He clipped off a bone fragment and some of the creature's skull as he shot past. Black liquid wept from the gaping hole in the side of its face. One smoldering eye glared horribly him.

Jaune strafed the animal, now half bind and in a frenzy. It charged, swinging wildly. The duo leapt out of the way just as a massive claw sunk into the soft ground. It wrenched up the chunk of earth with a maddening roar.

Jaune backpddled and put several pace between the rabid monster and himself. Weiss cast another glyph and Jaune took a running jump through it. He raised his picks up above his head. Weiss imbued them with quick runes on instinct. Jagged ice shards grew out of the iron. Jaune rocketed toward the bone encrusted skull of the abomination and swung forward with every ounce of strength he had.

The twin picks plunged into the half pulped head of the Ursa like a knife through watermelon. The skull caved in and black brains oozed in thick clumps out of the beast. One of the iron picks lodged itself in the ruined eye socket and snapped off the wooden handle as the pair flew over the crumpling form of the massive Grimm.

As they touched down, Jaune stumbled forward and fell to one knee. The rippling mass of muscle and bone, now rapidly cooling from the loss of its head, fell to the ground with a crash. The earth quaked under his feet.

Jaune knelt there, with Weiss on his back, frozen for a moment, then two. He listened for something; another Ursa barreling out of the trees, or a pack of Beowolves salivating for human meat. Anything. The only thing that reached his ears was the soft panting of his companion. He glanced back at her. Her usually neat ponytail was tousled and windswept; her clear, pale complexion sported a healthy flush.

He flashed her a smile. "Alright there, Weiss?"

Her glistening blue eyes flicked down at him before going back to the dead Grimm. "Uh huh."

They resumed their trek after a small rest. As they walked, the forest had become a graveyard of towering black spires. The long, creeping shadows that they had cast minutes ago now embraced the landscape as one sweeping umbra. Jane's pace slowed as it became harder to see. Weiss was drawn to a small nick on her mount's cheek. It had been there for some time now when he'd been nicked by a thorn. It hadn't yet healed.

She frowned in concern. It was such a minor thing. Surely his Aura would have made short work of it.

"Hey, it's getting pretty dark out here. There's a cave up ahead. Let's set up camp."

Weiss hadn't quite noticed how dark it had indeed become. She looked down at the back of the blonde hunter's head. Jaune had carried her all this way without complaint. A warm swell of appreciation burst in her chest.

The two friends crept into the damp cave. Jaune bent down so Weiss wouldn't hit her head on the cold stone roof. He set her down at the far end of the cave.

"Rest here for a bit, okay? I'm gonna go out and get something for a fire." She nodded wordlessly and watched him go.

After some minutes he returned with an armload of dry wood and leaves. He plopped his burden down on the ground and set about clearing an area for a fire.

"My buddy Slade would take me out camping every now and again. Said it'd come in handy if I were ever stranded in the wilderness." He put down a bed of leaves and light twigs. He produced a piece of flint and steel from his pouch and struck the flint against the metal bar. A bright spark spat out at the kindling. It began smoking. He struck the steel again and a small ember winked into existence.

Jaune looked up at the walls of the cave. He could feel the cool moisture settle on his skin. He struck the flint a few more times. More embers joined the first. He sensed Weiss' curious eyes evaluating his work. He bent over and lightly blew on the budding flame. He coaxed it with some dry leaves and twigs.

Soon, a small fire was happily skipping about. Jaune progressively added more and more fuel. A strong orange flame sputtered and crackled, radiating a slow soothing heat for the two weary hunters.

Jaune leant back against the damp stone wall and sighed.

"There. That should keep us cozy for a while. I'll go out and get some more firewood in a bit." He fixed Weiss with a wry look. "Remember, if you think you've collected enough firewood for the night, you haven't."

She nodded at the information absently. She had once again become engrossed in the small nick on his cheek. Her thoughts wandered to his shoulder. She wondered how it was feeling. Glancing at it, she assumed it was feeling better than the previous week. He'd been able to use its full range of motion fighting the Ursa.

Her gaze shifted to her swelling foot. Making eye contact made the pain return in full force. She contemplated casting the cooling glyph on it.

"Does it hurt?" Jaune's gentle eyes fell to the swelling appendage.

"N-no."

Naturally, he didn't believe her. "Here, let me see."

He knelt down beside her. He took hold of her sensitive foot and gently removed her black shoe. This put the girl into a mild state of shock.

"W-wait! No, stop!"

His feather light touch slid off her black dress sock, exposing the reddened flesh of her agitated foot. Before she could protest further, his grip increased. He took each of her digits and curled them forward and backward. Then, he gently pulled each digit.. Soft pops in the joints sent little bursts of relief up her leg. He pressed his fingers into the balls of her foot and she clenched her teeth to stifle a moan. When they were satisfied, his fingers slid down and gently squeezed her heel. A jolt of relief shot up her leg as her foot began to relax.

She squeezed her eyes shut willing herself not to cry out.

"Feeling any better, Weiss?" She was glad he didn't look up to see her flushed face and hooded eyes.

"Y-yes."

"Excellent." He continued massaging her strained foot for some minutes. He drew it toward the fire, and the soft heat of the flame soaked into her, easing the throbbing into a dull ache.

She heard the low grumbling of an empty stomach. Her own. They'd missed dinner during all this nonsense. She hoped the amber flame would hide her reddening face.

Jaune smiled up at her. "Hungry, Weiss? Me too." He looked out the mouth of the cave. It was dark. He could hear the soft croaking of crickets. "I'll go out and rustle up some food. You stay here and rest." He gave her foot one last strong squeeze and stood.

"N-no, no that's alright. I'll be fine, really." She felt slightly ashamed for not making any conversation while he did all the work keeping them comfortable.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I won't go far. I think I saw some bushes with edible berries not far from here." He emptied his medicine pack. Small pouches of red, green, and yellow powder fell onto the warm stone floor. "Besides, I'm going to have to go get more wood if we don't want to freeze during the night. Just take it easy for me and I'll be back before you know it."

She nodded mutely, unable to argue further. Her stomach simply wouldn't allow it.

The young man shot her a smile, turned, and made his way out of the cave.

Berries. Of course he would get berries. Weiss had an absurd image of Jaune rustling up a sandwich shop out here in the wilderness. A small smile crept on her face.

* * *

The axe smashed through the Beowolf's skull with the ease of experience. Port squeezed off two quick shots from the blunderbuss. Another wolf went down in a shower of pink mist.

"It's no good, lad. We should consider turning back." Port ducked as a wolf lunged for his head. He hacked off a leg mid lunge. He followed up with a blast to the back of the head. "We've run out of light."

"We can't just leave them out there." A wolf leapt for Ren's head. He slid under it and unloaded half a clip into its soft belly. It fell with an anguished yelp. He tucked into a roll and caught another in the head with a knife. With the beast stunned, he peppered its spine with piercing metal slugs.

Nora slammed her hammer into the side of a wolf, sending it crashing through a tree. "Sir. Jaune and Lady Weiss are lost in this dark spooky forest." She pole vaulted over her hammer, engaged the grenade charge, and swung the hammer down on a mother wolf's head, mashing the front half of her body into a black pulp.

The trio of hunters stood back to back, readying their weapons for another wave of demon eyed Beowolves. The peaceful songs of crickets and owls were washed out by salivating fangs, snapping, growling, and yelping for fresh human meat.

A bead of sweat rolled down Port's creased brow. "How are you on ammunition, lad?"

Ren panted slightly, consulting his mental ammo count. "Good. Nora?"

She slung her hammer down by her waist, putting it into grenade launcher mode. "Okiedokie Loki."

"Listen carefully." Port's whisper came out as a rushed hiss. "With these numbers they won't give up without a massive show of force. We can keep cutting them down by the tens, but they'll keep coming. We have to convince them that they won't gain anything by throwing the whole den at us."

He could feel Ren nod beside him.

"Right. On my mark, unload into the forest." Port pulled back the hammer on his blunderbuss. "Blot those thrice damned hellfire eyes out. Alright, one."

Ren pointed his twin pistols into the snarling blackness.

"Two."

Nora's ever present smile widened into a manic grin. "Let's make some rugs!" Her launcher hummed with anticipation.

"Three!"

The night sky erupted in a frenzy of flame and red hot metal. High caliber bullets punched holes into century old trees. Iron pellets slid into soft flesh, bursting life giving arteries, and spraying the ancient woodland floor with black, putrid blood. The slam of hammer to bullet pounded in the hunters' ears. They couldn't hear themselves speak. They couldn't even hear themselves think over the arresting violence all around them.

When Port went down to reload, Ren threw his hands out, unloading clips into the faintest glimmer of burning ember. He'd carelessly toss empty clips onto the ground, giving Nora the signal to launch grenades in a three sixty degree arc. The resulting explosions splintered trees and rendered hearty beasts into giblets. After a heavy volley, she too had to reload. By then, Port and Ren were back up spraying hot iron pellets into the trees.

They kept up this rotation until the area steamed and stank of rot and death.

"Hold your fire!" hollered Port, his ears ringing loudly.

Even when everything was still, the hunters could feel the afterimage of action hum through their bones.

"Is it over?" Ren's pink eyes glared into the darkness. "Are they gone?"

Port reloaded his blunderbuss and squinted into the pitch.

"Yes," he breathed. "They've gone."

The three hunters relaxed their stance just so. Professor Port walked to the perimeter of their staging area. He used his axe to slice open corpses; a thick rancid heat expelled from the exposed cavities. He pulled corpses, limbs, and entrails of the dead creatures into a circle, leaving a good sized clearing for themselves.

Ren and Nora crinkled their noses at the pungent stench.

"They'll smell their dead. With any luck, they'll think twice about attacking again." After he completed the work, he regarded his two charges. "This is our last chance to turn back." Ren was already shaking his head. "You're certain you want to spend the night here? Very well." He looked up to the trees. "We can't stay on the ground. We're all exhausted, and we all need sleep. The wolves won't follow us up the trees, and if something big comes along, well, let's hope we hear it."

Port gestured to a reasonably undamaged tree and one after another, they climbed up the tree. Each felt the crushing pull of gravity on their aching and exhausted bodies. Port spied a pair of thick, sturdy branches and tested their resolve under his weight. Satisfied, he shuffled down the branch and signaled for his charges to follow. Ren and Nora took up shelter near the trunk of the tree. Ren lay against the trunk, tucking Nora into his chest. Port took up position on the other side.

"We'll continue on tomorrow. With luck, Mr. Arc and Miss Schnee will have found shelter for the night." He slung his axe across his shoulder. A vague memory of bygone days passed through his mind. "The larger Grimm don't hunt by night, or at least the variety around here don't. If they keep a low profile, they shouldn't attract wolves."

Ren squinted into the canopy and could make out just the barest sliver of the fractured moon overhead. It reminded him of the image on Jaune's shield. Nora clutched that very shield to her chest as she tried to relax. The sword dangled at her side.

He gripped his childhood friend just a little bit tighter.

In the darkness, the three hunters listened keenly to the pulverized wood. Trees groaned and creaked as they succumbed to their wounds and fell to the forest floor. A light wind whistled through holes that had punched clean through ancient, dense wood. The owls and crickets and birds of the night were quiet with shock and fear. And amidst the unnatural quiet, the three hunters fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

* * *

Weiss tossed another log into the fire. It sputtered indignantly and roared back to life. She shifted her foot slightly, to take better advantage of the heat. It was feeling quite a bit better after Jaune had massaged it. She hoped she could walk by morning. As she gazed into the fire she found herself thinking about her blonde haired companion.

Pyrrha's advice had held true. He was rather kind. She hadn't quite expected that at first, but looking back, she should have seen it. She'd caught glimpses of him with Ren and Nora during orientation. He'd been laughing and playing with them. An image of the bunny girl, Velvet, flashed through her mind. Her thin brows knitted together. Perhaps he was too kind. Regardless, she'd found herself becoming more and more comfortable around the young swordsman.

She was broken out of her thoughts by a rustling at the mouth of the cave. Jaune had returned with a pouch full of provisions.

"Welcome back—ah!" She tried to get up and greet him but pain lashed up her injured foot and she plopped back down.

"Hey, I told you to take it easy" He gently scolded the pouting girl as he sat down next to her and set the contents between them. "Well, it ain't The Ritz, but it'll have to do." He popped a berry into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Not bad. Dig in, Weiss."

She wordlessly plucked up a berry and nibbled on it. She crinkled her nose at the tangy zip that lashed across her tongue. They ate in silence until all the berries had been eaten. The boy produced a canteen from his side, smaller than the one he usually carried, and offered her some water. She drank gratefully.

Jaune sighed and leaned back against the warm stone wall. "Well, all things considered we're alright. Roof over our heads, food, water. Of course, we're probably gonna miss class tomorrow."

Weiss scowled. She'd never missed a single class in her life. Ever.

"That brute. He has to be behind this." She threw the blonde a sharp look. "Was this because you helped out that bunny girl?" She suddenly found herself quite ready to blame the timid faunus for this whole mess.

Jaune shrugged. "Who knows? That guy's just a bad egg."

Weiss fumed. "I don't know how you can be so casual about this. He almost got us killed."

"But we're not dead." Jaune's eyes suddenly hardened. Weiss quieted. She'd never seen that expression on his face before. "We're not dead and we'll be stronger for it. You saw how we took down that Ursa."

She hadn't quite seen it like that; as a practical demonstration of their teamwork skills. She decided she liked that particular explanation.

They fell into silence after that. Each stared into the fire, consumed by their own thoughts. Jaune kept an ear quirked toward the mouth of the cave, in case more Grmm decided to attack.

"So, Weiss. Where are you from anyway?"

Billowing curtains, lavish, empty rooms, and dark, looming corridors.

"Oh, no where special. Just up north." She tucked her legs in. "And you?"

A small smile bloomed on her face. This was another reason why she'd felt at ease around the young man. He had no idea who she was. He didn't have the slightest inkling of the status her family wielded or that her family was largely responsible for the extensive use of Dust throughout the world. The idea had given her quite a thrill. When they were alone she found that she didn't have to be quite so… proud.

Jaune smiled as memories of home washed over him. "Oh, I'm from a little village out west. Carbo. It's nestled in a little clearing surrounded by thick forest. The only people who have any Dust appliances are the mayor and Slade. So, every week we have a dance for the whole town to get together and mingle. Those were my favorite times. You'd see everybody and have a good time. Well, you'd see everyone anyway, it's an itty bitty village."

Weiss listened to the young man ramble on about his home. She felt a little envious of the fondness that soaked through his words. His eyes lit up when he spoke of the dances he'd attend. She filed that away for possible future reference.

Jaune paused to take a swig from his canteen. Weiss caught sight of the small cut again. It was still there.

"Jaune?" She'd begun speaking before she could stop herself.

"Yeah?"

"That cut. It's still there." His expression sobered. She felt bad for taking away his excitement, but she couldn't stop herself. "Why don't you heal like the rest of us?"

He gave her a steady look from the corner of his eye. He let out a slow shuddering breath. He suddenly looked several years older in the warm firelight.

"Well, it all started one dark and stormy night…." She swatted his arm. He chuckled slightly and launched into the real story. He told her everything; he told her about Slade, and his faithful little kitten. He told her about the trial his village had set up for new defenders. He told her about how it all went horribly wrong for Slade because of one miscalculation. He told her as best he could what had happened that night, and the consequences that followed.

When he finished they both sat ruminating in contemplative silence. Then, Weiss spoke.

"But why are you here? It's dangerous here, you could get killed." She didn't attempt to push down the quiver in her voice.

Jaune shook his head slowly. "We took the test. I edged Slade out and that was that. All my life, he kept telling me that I could do everything anybody else could. I just needed to use my head. When the time came to get on the Dustplane, I was too shocked to protest. Afterward, I figured I'd started something, and it was up to me to finish it.

"He prepared me, Weiss. So I could survive out here, and not have to cower away in the village my whole life."

"Is that what you wanted?" she asked quietly.

He tossed a log into the fire, it ate it up hungrily. He stared and silently asked it the same question, but it ignored him in favor of the dry wooden log.

"It's getting pretty late. Get some sleep, Weiss. I'll stay up and keep watch."

"No! You were carrying me around all day. You rest, I'll stay up."

They tried to stare each other down, but all that accomplished was two rapidly reddening teenagers. The warm orange glow of the fire cast Weiss in a soft golden hue. Her hair burned bright gold, and her alabaster skin, a sultry bronze.

Jaune tore his eyes away before he made a complete fool of himself. "H-how about this. I stay up for the first half of the night, and then I'll wake you up for the next half."

The heiress pondered it for a moment and found the idea agreeable. She nodded. "Very well. But you'd better wake me up, Arc."

She settled down on the warm stone floor. She curled up into a ball, turned toward the fire, and put her hands under her head. Seeing this, Jaune shrugged off his uniform jacket and folded it up.

"Here, Weiss, use this."

She knew it would be useless to protest. She took the folded garment with a soft thank you and put it under her head. It was quite warm from Jaune's body heat, and it smelled of pine and mint. She breathed in the scent.

She saw Jaune cradling her as they fell from the Nevermore. No Aura, no protective energy. She saw his arm snap back during the exhibition match. No Semblance. Just flesh and bone. He finished what he started. She gripped the fabric of his jacket. And she would help. She would do the best she could to make him into the best hunter he could be. And she'd be the best hunter she could be as well. They were partners after all. Her eyes grew heavy watching the flame rhythmically munch on its offerings.

The blonde knight looked down at his—the sleeping angel. He tried to take advantage of watching her sleep as much as possible. Her face was completely relaxed, and her bangs formed a light curtain over her dreaming eyes. He had to resist running his hand through her hair. He smiled at her sleeping form and silently wished her sweet dreams.

He didn't know how long he stared into the fire. The same question was rattling around in his head. Was it what he wanted? As the fire sputtered and crackled, vague memories of fresh baked goods flashed and faded in his mind. It was something he hadn't thought about in years and for it to suddenly resurface now shocked him. His folded his arms and gripped his sides. His eyes watered and his breath grew heavy. A single tear slid down his cheek for the smiling little boy in the bakery. And all he had to comfort him was a hungry flame demanding more wood, and the soft chirping of crickets.

* * *

Taking a small break for the holidays and other projects. Be back in January 2014. Until then, Happy Everything to all of you.


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